— May 1994 —

'Please, sit down,' said Remus. 'Would you like tea?'

'Yes, please,' replied Ariana.

Remus prepared tea and sat down at his desk, in front of her.

'What have you wanted to talk about?' he asked.

Ariana was silent for a moment.

'Well, this isn't a topic I could raise in public in the staff-room, I hope you understand,' she said nervously.

Remus nodded, looking at her expectantly.

'I've wanted to explain why I understand your situation and I've thought you are the person who can understand what I'm dealing with. You see, I'm…' she hesitated. 'I'm not a Squib. I'm a Dark creature. I can't tell you any details and I'm sorry for that. It's not a matter of trust, I assure you. It's just—very complicated.'

'I'm thankful you've told me that,' said Remus quietly. 'Who knows about it?'

'Only Albus Dumbledore and one relative whom I lived with before I started working at Hogwarts. You see, what I am is very rare and more dangerous than lycanthropy. And though I'm partially cured and I'm not nearly as dangerous as I used to be, no one would let me work here. I could be murdered. Most people like me were killed.'

'I'm so sorry. So Severus doesn't know anything either? I'm just asking because I've noticed you seem quite close.'

'No,' replied Ariana. 'Frankly speaking, I'm afraid. I don't want to lose a colleague and my job. He's very serious about safety issues. You know how much he opposed you being a teacher.'

'I know. However, I must tell you this issue is a bit more complicated. While I think he would be against hiring any Dark creature in general—I believe he was also strongly against specifically me. We went to school together and… I understand his reasons, suffice to say.'

'I'm aware of that.'

'Did Severus tell you that?' asked Remus carefully.

'Not really.' Ariana blushed a little. 'May I ask you a personal question?'

'Yes, you may.'

'Did you ever… hurt anyone?'

'No,' replied Remus. 'Fortunately no. Even though I wasn't always responsible. I consider myself very lucky. Did you…?'

'Yes. Someone closest to me. It's a burden I must bear for the rest of my life.'

'I'm so sorry.'

'Thank you,' said Ariana. 'And I'm really grateful that you listened to me so patiently. But, please, promise you won't tell anyone.'

'I promise.'

Suddenly they heard a knock and after a moment the door opened. It was Severus with a goblet of smoking potion in his hand. He looked at them, surprised. Ariana stood up quickly.

'Good evening, Severus,' she said, smiling nervously and praying he hadn't heard anything. 'I was just going to leave. Good night, Remus. And good night, Severus.'

She walked out of the room and closed the door. Her heart was pounding loudly as she was walking fast toward her room.

— June 1997 —

'Severus told me you seemed distressed,' said Albus.

'How is this surprising,' replied Ariana harshly. 'You should be happy I'm not turning into my miserable self.'

'I'm worried about you.'

'You shouldn't have touched that wicked ring in the first place!'

'I know. But it cannot be undone,' said Albus calmly.

'How can you be so heartless? Since that dreadful day all I've been doing is worry about you! And Severus! And everyday I pray you die because of the ring, and I feel so guilty, and I think I'm losing my mind!' She buried her face in her hands.

'I analysed all the options. This was the best one. And there's no coming back, you know that.'

'You've never changed, have you? The same old attitude: you're the smartest person in the room, you know best and it's all for the greater good! Isn't it?!'

Albus was silent for a moment.

'I might have made some mistakes,' he said finally. 'Missed some opportunities. But I did try to make the best decisions I could, given the circumstances. And I know I started this horrible situation by using the Stone, but I don't regret it. You have your whole life ahead of you. I've lived mine. It was a good, satisfying life.'

'And what about Severus? You're destroying his life too!'

'He destroyed his life a long time ago, all by himself.'

'And he's still paying for that, and you only want more and more!' said Ariana angrily.

'I wish things were different. But we can't change anything now.'

'Don't you care for him at all? Is he only a pawn in chess you play with Tom Riddle?'

'On the contrary,' said Albus. 'I've grown fond of him. Right now, if he doesn't kill me, he'll die. Please try to stay calm around him, he's already stressed enough. And I need you to keep an eye on him… afterwards. I don't have anyone else to ask for this.'

'Of course I will,' she snorted.

'But in order to do it, you need to keep calm. Promise me.'

'I promise.'

— September 1997 —

Ariana was sitting in Aberforth's kitchen, nervously clutching her glass of tea.

'I don't understand why you still refuse to see it,' said Aberforth, disgruntled. 'All his plans—ruined. He was both so conceited and trusting that it eventually got him killed and destroyed the future for others. If he had just stopped scheming, everyone would be happier. Perhaps there would've been no Grindelwald and no You-Know-Who in the first place. But no, he was always the wisest, the smartest and everyone else was just supposed to follow his orders. For the greater good, of course.'

'I know you're hurting, but—'

'I'm not hurting! Don't act as if you were smarter—don't act like HIM!'

'But I'm just sick and tired of your endless rants,' finished Ariana louder. Aberforth looked at her, both angry and wounded. 'I'm not defending him. On the contrary, I actually agree with some of your points, but him being trusting—seriously? This was his best trait.'

'It was stupid, Ariana, you're just saying this because you're even more trusting than him. But he was supposed to protect you and—'

'Protect me? It was me who fought the Basilisk! It was me who took the killing curse intended for him! I didn't need his protection, he needed mine! And no matter what happened, I'm still going to trust other people. Even if it gets me killed!'

She got up and left the kitchen to calm down. She walked up to the door to the pub, looking at the odd people sitting there. At one of the tables she noticed a young man with red hair. She watched him closely for a while, then she walked decisively through the pub and sat down in front of him.

'Hello, Percy,' she said.

— October 1998 —

'Thank you again for letting me stay here,' said Ariana.

'You should thank my mother-in-law,' replied Remus.

'I already have.'

They were sitting in a small room full of books—in the house of Andromeda and Ted Tonks.

'Good. I think she's actually happy to have you around, especially after my father-in-law had to run away.'

'Since we're talking about Andromeda,' Ariana lowered her voice, 'have you told her anything about my… condition?'

'No, I haven't.'

'Let's keep it that way, shall we?'

'Of course.' Remus nodded.

'Frankly speaking, I regret I told you this. Albus was right, I should've kept quiet. I just desperately wanted someone to understand… And I mistook your niceness for kindness and maturity.'

Remus looked at her, deeply hurt, without saying a single word.

'Don't get me wrong, I like you, but…' She hid her face in her hands and stayed silent for a while. 'I'm sorry,' she said eventually.

'You've got a lot on your shoulders, you should rest,' said Remus. Ariana could tell that he was only pretending to care and that he wanted to end this uncomfortable conversation as quickly as possible.

'I can't rest. People are dying out there. Others are risking their lives every day. Tomorrow we'll have new information about the Muggle-borns and—'

'Are you sure we can trust him?'

'The spy in the Ministry? Yes, I am,' replied Ariana.

'Dumbledore was sure that he could trust Snape too,' said Remus quietly. 'You trusted him, we all did. I just don't want this to end like—'

'Don't talk about Severus!' she cut him off sharply.

Remus got up and walked up to the door.

'You're not alone, you know,' he said before leaving the room. 'Even if I'm immature, even though we've been betrayed—we're still the Order of the Phoenix.'

— May 1998 —

Ariana—in her Phoenix form— was sitting on a tree branch in the Forbidden Forest. As a member of the Order of the Phoenix she'd been notified about the impending Battle of Hogwarts. Of course as a human she was useless, so she'd waited until Remus and Tonks disapparated before turning into Fawkes and coming to Hogwarts as well.

Harry Potter was somewhere there and she knew she had to fulfill her dreadful duty—tell him what Albus couldn't. What he was. What he had to do. But as she turned into the Phoenix, she realised she should wait. She couldn't explain it, but she didn't fight it. Whatever kind of magic that was, she knew it was true. So she was waiting patiently for the right moment.

The wind was lightly rustling through the leaves. It was strangely quiet, as if there was no battle and no people were dying.

Suddenly she felt it was time. She spread her wings and flew above the trees. As she was flying, she realised she urgently had to go to the Shrieking Shack.

Once she was inside, she saw it was empty, but she still flew to the room where something was magically calling her. As soon as she got there, she noticed a motionless, presumably dead body of Severus Snape.

When she saw him, her heart broke. She felt all the despair that she had tried so hard to control during the last two years. With the last glimmer of hope, she landed next to him. She could feel that, though unconscious, he was still alive—but barely. In desperation, she started shedding tears on the wounds at his neck.

But nothing changed. She cried and cried, and eventually she gave up. She couldn't tell how long it took. As the grief became more and more overwhelming, she turned into a woman again, weeping desperately and ignoring that her dress was heavily stained with his blood.

'Ariana?' Suddenly she heard a quiet, hesitant voice.

'Oh, Severus!' she exclaimed happily, with tears still running down her face. 'I thought I was too late…'

She helped him sit up. He touched his neck, which was now healed, and looked around with a glimpse of panic in his eyes.

'I need to find Potter,' he said and got up. He took his wand, uncovered the entrance to the hidden tunnel and started running toward the castle. Ariana followed him as quickly as she could.

The tunnel was long, narrow and winding, so it took them a lot of time to get to the Whomping Willow.

'You can't go out like this!' cried Ariana.

'I don't need to anymore,' he said very quietly, staring at the Hogwarts grounds. Ariana walked up to him and glanced at his face first. His eyes seemed so dead and blank that she quickly looked at the grounds too—only to see Hagrid carrying Harry Potter's body.

— — —

After the battle Ariana and Severus hid in the headmaster's office.

'How do you feel?' asked Ariana.

'Like I've been Confunded,' replied Severus a bit harshly.

He looked at the empty perch that she used to sit at so many times and then at Ariana. She realised what he could be thinking and her heart started pounding in a sudden panic.

'I opened my eyes,' he said slowly, 'and I saw a phoenix. This is how I survived, isn't it?'

Ariana nodded silently.

'Was it Fawkes?' asked Severus.

Another nod.

'But I could swear it turned into you.' He looked at her piercingly.

'Yes, it did,' said Ariana finally. 'I mean, it's me. I am Fawkes.'

'This is not possible.' Severus kept staring at her, but this time he seemed more thoughtful and a little confused. 'Wizards cannot turn into magical creatures. And you're a Squib, aren't you?'

'No. I'm an Obscurial.'

'I know what an Obscurial is and you can't be one.'

'I am! And I'm not Ariana Grey. My name is Ariana Dumbledore. I'm Albus' sister.' She pointed to the portrait of her deceased brother.

'Oh yes, she's telling the truth,' said the portrait quite cheerfully.

'I couldn't tell you,' said Ariana. 'Perhaps no one would have believed that I was a hundred-year-old Obscurial, but it was too dangerous. Only Albus and Aberforth knew.'

'Well, Ariana, I—,' said Severus slowly, when suddenly the door opened and Harry Potter went inside.