A/N: Hey! Good news: It's not a year : D. Bad news: Heck it's not a week either, and I'm not sure if I'm too fond of this chapter. But eventually it's going to have to get better right (crosses fingers for a moving plot soon).

Fire Angel

Chapter 5

A fourteen year old Angelina Johnson found herself curled up on the floor of Dumbledore's office, the tears gradually winding down to sighs and hiccups. She felt light headed and hollow.

She couldn't recall much of what happened after that morning, when they pulled her aside to tell her that her aunt had passed the night before. It occurred suddenly, with nothing anyone could do, they said. She was basically gone when they found her.

The effect wouldn't have been so immediate if she were suddenly made deaf, blind, and muted.

She was very close to Aunt Selene, basically as much as her father, and had done nothing but grown closer. They spent so much time together; she helped her get through the bullying in her first years of school and was there the entire time as she figured herself out as a new witch at Hogwarts, being the closest relative that was also like her. She was the onethat helped her get through the tough times. Basically her second mother after her mom passed five years prior. They were basically of the same soul; the same smile, same laugh, the carefree attitude, and yet both knowing when to be stern, the perfect compliment to her father. Heck, she was the one that finally kicked her out of her funk after her mother's passing.

She was the anchor to both her worlds and it was being taken from her without warning without her knowing why.

When McGonagall came by to tell her she didn't break down immediately. Actually, it didn't absorb at all at first. As told by her classmates all she did was nod and walked away towards the next class. All she remembered was all her senses being dimmed and only knowing that she felt strangely heavy. She made it into the next class without really noticing anything, took out her supplies then stared at down at the desk as if it was going to give her an answer.

She was beginning to worry about why everything was so blurry when she felt a hand lead her out of the chair and into the hallway. She followed automatically, blank, not saying a word as she was led onto the moving stairs towards Dumbledore's office. The next thing she knew she was curled up against the floor, sobbing, unaware of the voices murmuring above her. Fawkes fluttered down next to her in hopes of some form of comfort.

Both women believed that everything was to happen for a reason.

At that moment in time, it was very hard to believe it.

Angelina Johnson celebrated this odd moment in her life by finding one of the strangest places in the small home and resting on it.

Her long-limbed body was laid out along the short staircase: one hand stretched out behind her, the other used as a head rest on the small plane between the set of steps, and the rest of her body trailing more or less uncomfortably after. She was using the down time to study the patterns on the ceiling and trying to get things situated.

It wasn't even twenty-four hours since Dumbledore left both of them here with zero prep and little explanation, and everything felt like a fistful of loose ends.

Right after the Headmaster's avatar disassembled Angelina left a cursing Snape to venture upstairs. As he said her small amount of clothes and miscellanea she'd packed for the mission was neatly stored placed in a corner of the bedroom. In the other corner was another small collection of chests that she assumed was the Potions Master's. How'd he got her stuff here was anyone's guess; she initially left them at Headquarters to later retrieve after she knew what she was setting out to do. But honestly she would have been more surprised if they weren't there.

Within that same bedroom, one a small stand between the twin beds was a letter addressed to them from Dumbledore, doing just a good of a job as he did of telling us nothing more than the barest details of this entire thing. Moving house, three days, blah. At least they learned that there was about a month's supply of food in the kitchen and basic toiletries in the bathroom. Well, she did; Snape was too busy darkly seething to look over the letter, so she read over it herself.

The rest of the house was fully stocked as if a family just went through spring cleaning and then up and left somewhere. The cupboards and fridge was stocked, the beds were made and there were towels and sheets in the hall closet, heck there was even a functioning TV. It wasn't until she spotted Severus looking quizzically at the television that she finally noticed the oddest thing about the place: it was decidedly muggle.

She felt kind of silly since she was steadily ignoring the ceiling lights and lamps in practically every room. Then she felt more and more bemused at how a moving house was supposed to retain any sort of steady electrical current.

Overall the place looked like a small, two story (muggle) country house. It was a simplistic design, mainly made up of earthy tones, with beige carpeting in most of the rooms. The kitchen and bathroom came in an unattractive green color and white tiles. By looking out the windows it even seemed situated out in the country; all she saw was field and trees (wait there were no electrical- won't think about it) and no visible signs that they were or were not still in England. The sky didn't seem to have changed significantly from the time that they were in Hogwarts, but that didn't say too much.

Checking out the house took up most of the time up until she set herself down on the staircase. All of this looking over, thinking, and confusion did well in distracting her from the other occupant in the house.

Angelina re-angled her head and snorted.

Probably one of the few students who actually did something to earn Snape's ire, the reason he'd ever become one of her main adversaries in school years wasn't so much that he specifically targeted her initially (well, any more than any other Gryffindor student), but that she never learned to handle it well.

They've had more non-Potter confrontations that she'd care to remember; she'd made scenes in class, she'd confronted him after class, she'd started arguments about his behavior in detention, in the detentions that came of fussing in the earlier detention, confronted him in the hallways, a few bouts in the Great Hall, even had conferences with him and the Headmaster at his office after she went and reported him. Heck, one time she even followed him down to his personal chambers.

She'd lost so many points by him it wasn't even funny. The actual funny thing was her having an odd number of points given to her in the rest of her classes. She didn't know on whether it was sympathy at how all the other kids in her House would've killed at her for losing so many points, or that they actually were in a sense amused at all the grief she would give Snape.

So basically when you get two people who won't understand the phrase 'live and let live' you get their history. You would think that being in Gryffindor she couldn't have been the biggest thorn in his side (again pre-Harry), but by how the rest of the staff responded to her, she pretty much was. Gave Dumbledore many a merry laugh at her antics. Eh heh, maybe she ended up having a scheduled tea time with him biweekly that came of her consistently tramping up there to complain of the evils of the Potions Master?

The antics lessened a bit after getting into Quidditch and advanced academia, but she was always quick to defend friends, grades, and fair play. Which still meant fairly often. And maybe it was because she was becoming more calloused to his behavior, but it felt like he was backing off a little during her later years in the school.

Well, she didn't know how she stood with the professor now and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to know, but regardless on how she guessed she was going to find out, unless he chose to ignore her the entire time. Which, by the by, was phase four of his reaction to her back then and that barely lasted three months.

Angelina was smiling to herself when she remember how exactly she got him to end the silent treatment (which came as little nuggets of genius that was basically some variant of "If you think Snape is an ass, tap your pencil" during class), when she suddenly felt another presence.

She turned her head to find Snape looking down at her with part annoyance, part condensation, and with just a hint of sufferance. Of which he no doubt went through much pains to perfect.

Angelina stared back and waited for him to say something insulting about the ridiculous position he found her in. She watched as he looked like he was going to say something, took it back, and then seemed as if he weren't going to say anything at all until he scowled at her and said:

"What on Earth do you wear under your robes?"

Startled she scrambled her way off of the staircase and went to cover her legs as quickly as humanly possible. She didn't know why she became upset at the question (probably more at the tone of it than the question itself, which was more random than anything else), but it was upsetting enough for her to say back spitefully "Nothing!" as she pushed past her way up the stairs and towards the bedrooms.

She didn't know what made her say that; of course she was wearing clothes underneath her robes, even if they only amounted to a muggle pair of gym shorts and tank top for the warmer weather they were having recently. She may come to regret saying something so silly. She was waiting for some cool, sarcastic remark that would try to make her feel like a first year back in school, but again it didn't come.

If she saw the expression on his face, she would've know exactly why it never came. And it would've been completely worth it..

AN: These chapters are getting shorter. That annoys me.

Ergh, this chapter fought me. I wished they'd just stopped fighting me! ha. It's a bit frustrating but I'm still optimistic at working out all these kinks and it becoming smoother sailing. But at least it isn't '08, and I hope this will just get easier for me and better for you as it goes along.

It'd have to with some of you guys; thanks for the support and critiques evilevergreen, angelface04, Fredsonetrueluv, mytondeftiger, Sloe, angelinafan, and Nadrek, I of course appreciate it.

But yeah, any questions, comments, rantings, death threats, mewls of despair, all to me. I'll try to explain myself as best as I can.