They arrive outside of the gates to Hogwarts Castle. Madelyn can see it shining in the distance, looking like something out of a storybook. She is unable to hold back her joyous smile as she looks at Dumbledore. She is about to say something, when the unexpected happens.

Madelyn collapses to the ground. She hears Dumbledore's concerned voice, but all she can concentrate on is the sharp pain in her scar, a sensation like a thousand needles piercing through her forehead, an agony that she has never come close to experiencing in her entire life. Several different brief images and fleeting sounds begin to flit through her mind one after the other so quickly that it is impossible to process any of them.

And then everything fades to black.

….

Minerva McGonagall checks the clock that is hung up on the wall in the entrance hall.

One-thirty. One-thirty in the morning. How McGonagall has ended up in such a situation at this hour, she has no idea.

Just an hour ago, she had been waiting for Dumbledore to come back from visiting the Dursleys, eager to hear how everything had gone over.

But when he had come bursting into the entrance hall with the Potter girl, who had been unconscious on a floating stretcher, McGonagall had completely lost her mind, asking Dumbledore questions more quickly than he had been able to answer them.

Now, McGonagall is sitting up against a wall of the entrance hall opposite Severus Snape and Dumbledore, with Madelyn still unconscious on the stretcher beside McGonagall.

There is a dead silence as the three adults stare intently at the sleeping girl, Snape and McGonagall having finished interrogating Dumbledore about every last thing that had happened tonight.

Suddenly, McGonagall sees Madelyn stir. She seems to be mumbling softly in her slumber, her face formed into a slight frown.

McGonagall listens carefully and catches some of the words being uttered.

"…lightning….the lightning-struck tower…betrayal…falling…gone…all alone…"

McGonagall looks over at her colleagues, who also seem to have heard this, judging by the astonished looks on their faces.

Madelyn continues to mumble the same words over and over again. Her voice becomes slightly louder with each minute that goes by, her face becoming more and more distressed as she tosses and turns.

"…tower…betrayed…falling…gone…"

After three minutes of this, Dumbledore says calmly, "Wake her up, Minerva."

McGonagall gently shakes Madelyn's shoulder. Her muttering ceases. She slowly opens her eyes and then sits upright abruptly. She turns her head around and examines everything in her immediate surroundings from the people before her to the glittering ceiling up above her.

"How are you feeling, Miss Potter?" McGonagall asks.

"I'm…fine…" she replies distractedly, now turning her eyes onto McGonagall.

"As you may have guessed, the pain coming from your scar was so great that it appears to have caused you to pass out, my dear. It gave us quite a fright," says Dumbledore.

"Why did it happen, though? Why was my scar hurting?" But no one answers Madelyn's question.

Instead, there is a silence while the adults ponder how to ask the question that they have been waiting to ask for over an hour.

McGonagall finally breaks the silence. "Miss Potter, we will need to meet with you first thing in the morning in order to discuss several matters with you. However, until then, there is one particular question we have that cannot go unanswered." She pauses, still unsure of what the right thing to say is.

But it is Snape who speaks next, his voice filled to the brim with suspicion. "Do you know your way around the castle, Potter?" His eyes are searching Madelyn's face, his expression serious.

Madelyn looks stunned that this, of all things, is the question they are asking her. She stares for a moment at Snape, her brow furrowed. "No," she says quietly.

Snape is clearly still suspicious. Madelyn surveys him with suspicion of her own and a deep frown.

McGonagall glances at Dumbledore, but his expression does not give away whatever he is really thinking.

"Very well then," McGonagall says. "I will escort Miss Potter to one of the guest rooms."

…..

At nine o'clock the next morning, Snape has been sitting in Dumbledore's office for half an hour, and McGonagall still has not arrived with Madelyn.

"Hmm. Minerva is usually quite punctual. Severus, would you mind going to see if there has been an issue of some sort with our young Madelyn?" Dumbledore asks.

Of course, this is the last thing that Snape wants to do, but there is no denying an order from Dumbledore.

Halfway to McGonagall's office, Snape runs into McGonagall herself. Her hat is lopsided and she looks rather frazzled.

McGonagall begins speaking rapidly before Snape can even open his mouth. "She isn't anywhere in the guest room. I even checked the entire floor –"

"Of course. She must already be up to no good, wandering about the castle, even after Dumbledore did her a favor and brought her here –"

McGonagall does not seem to have heard him. "Why don't you help me look for her? I will search the floor above here and you can check the one below." With that, she hurries off to look for the Potter brat.

Scowling, Snape heads down the staircase, not believing for a second that this girl has simply gotten curious and gone off to explore the castle on her own. Something tells him that she has snuck off somewhere for a reason.

The moment that he reaches the bottom of the staircase, he sees her.

She stands still in the middle of the hallway, looking directly at Snape, her expression unfathomable.

Madelyn looks like a small doll, the picture of innocence. Despite being old enough to attend Hogwarts, Snape would say that she were nine years old if he did not know better. Her hair has been tied up into a ponytail with a black ribbon and she is wearing a navy blue calico dress. She bears absolutely no resemblance to her mother, save for the eyes. But, given her resemblance to Euphemia, hints of James Potter's features can be seen throughout her face. Anger pulsates within Snape.

"What have you been doing?" Snape asks.

"I wanted to take a look at the rest of the castle. I've never seen it before." Her voice is level and calm, but something about the way her eyes are surveying Snape tells him that she is hiding something.

Snape strides up to her and she immediately looks to the floor. "Keeping secrets is not something that will be tolerated here." He pauses, but she says nothing. "You knew perfectly well that you were needed in the headmaster's office first thing this morning. What was so urgent that you felt the need to disobey his orders?"

There is a silence, Madelyn now looking at Snape's shoulder. "Answer me, Miss Potter."

Unfortunately, Madelyn is spared the need to answer because, at this moment, McGonagall shows up.

McGonagall looks between the two of them curiously. "What is going on?"

Madelyn looks up at her. "Nothing, ma'am."

McGonagall seems even more curious now, but she does not press the issue further.

As the three of them walk to Dumbledore's office together, Snape thinks to himself that the trouble has only just begun.

…

"So," Dumbledore says, looking around at Snape, McGonagall, and Madelyn. "It seems that we have much to discuss. But first of all," he picks an envelope up off of his desk and hands it to Madelyn, "I would like you to open your Hogwarts letter, Madelyn."

"Thank you, sir," Madelyn replies as she tears open the envelope. "By the way, I actually prefer to go by Maddie."

"Ah." Realization seems to come to Dumbledore. "I seem to remember that Maddie is, in fact, the name your parents intended to call you by…But of course, I knew it was possible that things might have changed since then…"

Maddie looks up from her letter. "You knew them? Youknew my –"

"I did." He smiles. But then, like Snape and McGonagall are now doing, Dumbledore gazes intently at Maddie as she reads her letter.

After a minute, McGonagall asks, "Is there anything in this letter that you do not understand, Miss Potter?"

Snape can tell that Maddie seems uncomfortable at this question. "No, ma'am. I understand it all."

The three adults all share a look.

Then, to Snape's surprise, Maddie smiles amusedly, looking around at everyone in the room. "I'm guessing you want to know how I understand it all?"

Snape raises an eyebrow. Maddie is looking him directly in the eye now. "Obviously," he says. "Why else would we –"

" -have dragged a nuisance like me into the headmaster's office?"

Snape blinks. That had been exactly what he had been thinking. He continues to stare directly into Maddie's vibrant eyes in disbelief. There is no way. There simply could not be any way…

By this point, Snape can feel McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Maddie all staring at him curiously.

Then Dumbledore speaks again, his eyes twinkling. "Well, that is certainly one way to put it."

"Well, to answer your question, I dream about a lot of things," Maddie explains to Dumbledore. "But sometimes I just wake up knowing things without having dreamt anything."

"And how long has this been going on for?" Dumbledore asks.

"My whole life, I guess. But I don't understand a lot of it."

"And could you tell us what you have learned from these dreams and sudden bursts of knowledge?"

Maddie smiles amusedly again. "If I told you that, then I think we'd be here all day."

Snape suddenly stands up. "We are not here to play games, Potter. I suggest that you divulge everything you know. You have no idea what is at stake –"

McGonagall gives Snape a stern look, which Maddie seems to be delighted by.

"I don't know much more than I've really told you. I know about how I got my scar and how my parents died." She pauses, thinking. "But there's one thing that I think could be important. I keep getting the same nightmare lately." Maddie's tone is very serious now. "I can never remember what happens, but I know there's a man in it." Everyone in the room waits for several seconds, but it seems that she has finished.

How informative. Snape wishes he were able to roll his eyes without McGonagall noticing.

"And that is all you know, Maddie? There is nothing else that we should know about?" Dumbledore asks calmly.

"No, sir."

Dumbledore sits there in deep thought, seeming to have forgotten that there is anyone else in the room.

"And," McGonagall says, "there is one more matter to address." Her eyes linger on the bruise that is on one side of Maddie's face. "Your guardianship and where you will be living from now on."

At this, Snape notices Maddie tense up.

Dumbledore sighs, seeming troubled, to Snape's surprise. "Yes. I suppose you can stay at Hogwarts for now. But we do not have much time: The ministry of magic has allowed us no more than two weeks to find you a legal guardian."

"Well, we can come up with some ideas over the next few days," says McGonagall. "I think I shall take Potter on a tour of the castle now." She beckons Maddie over to her.

Dumbledore nods. "A fine idea." He then turns to Snape. "Severus? Please stay. I would like a private word."

"Wait!" Maddie jumps up at once. "I still don't know why my scar was hurting so much last night." She looks at Dumbledore desperately.

There is a pause. "I believe it may have something to do with the dreams you have been having." Dumbledore's tone is final.

Maddie seems to be able to tell that everyone in the room is actively keeping something from her regarding the pain in her scar. She looks at Dumbledore, disbelieving.

Then, reluctantly, Maddie moves toward McGonagall, shooting a resentful glare at Dumbledore just before leaving the room.

Once they have left, Dumbledore stands up and walks over to Snape. "I would like you to carry out an errand for me." For some reason, Dumbledore's eyes are twinkling more than usual.

Snape nods curiously. "As you wish. What would you like me to do?"

"I would like you to take Maddie to Diagon Alley to get her school supplies in a few hours."

Perhaps Snape has heard wrong. But something tells him that this is not the case.

"Me, Albus? Surely you don't think that I would want to –"

"I assure you that I have my reasons," says Dumbledore, who is now smiling widely.

Snape feels quite irritated now. He has the feeling that, no matter how much he might ask, he will not get Dumbledore to back down from this idea.

But that does not stop him from trying. "You must be mistaken if you believe Potter will agree to this –"

"Oh, I never said that I thought anything of the sort, Severus." Snape wishes Dumbledore would stop smiling so much. "But she will have no choice. I understand that you are naturally prejudiced towards her, as she resembles Euphemia, and I suppose James to an extent as well, but her eyes -"

"What is this?" Snape snaps. "What are you trying to do?"

"And when you take her to Diagon Alley," Dumbledore continues as though Snape has not interrupted, "keep in mind that you do not lose her. You know just how packed Diagon Alley can get at this time of year." Dumbledore pauses, taking in Snape's furious expression with delight. "Why, you may even need to hold her hand –"

"That's enough!" Snape is breathing very hard now with anger.

Before Snape can get another word in, Dumbledore says, once again as though Snape has not spoken, "Thank you for agreeing to do this. I will see you later then."

Dumbledore walks back towards his desk and begins to examine some paperwork.

And Snape understands that he has just been dismissed.