Chapter 7
It was July 5th when Angela received permission from Severus to go visit Harry. After two weeks of letters being brought back undelivered by Morte, the potion master gave in. He didn't want to think about what the boy might be living at the Dursley under Petunia's tender care. She didn't have permission to bring him back with her yet but it was still something. She prepared a bag with wizarding space making it bigger on the inside, putting snacks and books inside for Harry.
It was 10 am on that Monday when a woman rang the bell of 4th Privet Drive. She had auburn hair and bright green eyes that made Petunia Dursley pale when she opened the door.
"You! Impossible! You… you're dead!" stammered the terrified woman.
"But I'm always watching Tuney. Did you think I wouldn't know how you treated my son!? Do you think for a second I would have neglected Dudley like you did Harry had our role been reversed!? How dare you treat my baby boy in such a way! That better change if you don't want a less kind visit, Tuney!" shot back the other woman.
Poor Petunia Dursley fainted on her doorstep and her visitor sighed. Footsteps could be heard from inside the house after she fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"Are you okay Aunt Petunia?"
A curtain of long jet black hair appeared from the stairs followed by the body of a young teen with green eyes.
"Ry'! It's me!"
The red haired woman morphed into a smaller girl with dark hair and amber eyes who ran to the boy to hug him as her clothes changed to a dark blue sundress.
"Eli! What are you doing here? What happened?" he asked, embracing his sister.
"I promised I would visit, didn't I?" She smiled cheekily. "As for your aunt… cousin Severus and I agreed that seeing her dead sister berate her on how she treats her nephew couldn't hurt her and was well deserved. I'm just sad I couldn't say my whole speech, she fainted too soon. I had it prepared just for the occasion."
They carried the passed out woman to the sofa and closed the still open door. Harry guided her to his room where she sat on the floor and him on the bed.
"I know you told me not to worry if I didn't receive letters before my birthday but I was kinda scared Eli… I'm happy that you came here today, thank you!"
She shook her head gently and smiled "I would never forget about you or give up on you, we're family remember? You're stuck with me!"
She noticed the trunk under his bed. "They let you keep it!? It means the notice-me-not and muggle-repelling charms worked!" She was whooping in victory and Harry chuckled.
"I suppose I have to thank you for that too, I'm sure Uncle Vernon would have wanted to lock it up if he could. At least now I can do my summer homework and study to pass time when I don't have chores to do."
"Speaking of which, I have something for you!" She handed him the bag that he emptied on his bed, looking at all the books inside and stashing the food for later. "I thought you could use some more food and you have all the books for next year beside DADA plus some others that I thought you might enjoy!"
They both fell on the floor when he tackled her in a hug "Thank you Eli, you're the best!"
She laughed and gently pushed him from her "And you're heavy Mister Potter."
He let go of the young witch and extended his hand to help her sit back up.
They spent the whole day playing games, chatting and laughing, unbothered by anyone. Petunia Dursley woke up during the afternoon but didn't bother them, still shaken by Angela's prank. Dudley was away at one of his friends' houses and couldn't be annoying them for that reason.
When the sun went down and after a last hug, it took only a whisper of "Artemisia" for her to be taken back to the professor's home through a portkey. Experience that she hated with passion, wizarding transport's methods didn't agree with her or her stomach and she couldn't land on her feet without help. No amount of practice would ever fix that issue for her, she could feel it.
Two weeks later, Angela had the permission from both Dumbledore and Snape to bring Harry back to Snape's house for two weeks. After his birthday, the boy would go visit the Weasleys and stay with them until school started again.
Harry was a bit anxious at the idea of spending time with the potion professor but anything was better than the Dursleys even if Petunia made a point to ignore him ever since the girl visited.
The long haired boy soon discovered another side to the stern professor as Angela had told him without him ever really believing her completely. He also discovered that the witch had a collection of punny T-shirts and that the professor also had some that she had enchanted for him. His favorite was the "If lost, bring back to Severus Snape" and "I'm Severus Snape" combo that he now knew was needed considering the girl's horrendous sense of orientation.
"She could get lost going in a straight line." had commented Severus.
In that more relaxed setting than school, the older wizard had the time to study the younger one and to see for himself that Angela had been telling the truth. Harry was a quiet boy with little self-confidence, far from the obnoxious and arrogant brat that his father had been. Actually Severus could see more of Lily in the smart boy than he could see James in him.
It didn't make the sour man become suddenly warm and fatherly with the boy like he could be with Angela at times but he was less spiteful. It would be a cold day in hell before the professor ever hugged the young wizard no matter how much the girl thought both of them needed it.
For Harry's birthday, the boy received a silver stag head pin from Angela who told him it was for his father's animagus form. But Harry's favorite gift that had brought him to tears was Severus's gift. A plain black box holding a silver chain with a silver lily flower pendant.
"It belonged to your mother." was all the potion master had said, a closed expression on his face even if Angela could see the sorrow and slight hint of warmth in the onyx eyes.
The Dobby situation had been easy and the house-elf even gave Harry his letters back when the boy agreed to not go back to Hogwarts. Harry was lying through his teeth as his sister had advised him but the poor creature had no way of knowing that. Dobby had just bawled his eyes out on Harry's greatness and how kind he was to be listening to a lowly house-elf like himself.
Two days after the siblings separated, Angela left Spinner's End for Malfoy Manor where she would stay for two weeks. There, beside hanging out with Draco, she followed the blond in his tutoring and received lessons aimed at young pureblood heirs. The lessons were boring in her opinion but she learnt quickly, adept at masking and thus having no issue playing pretend like purebloods did.
Draco had given himself the mission to rid Angela of her fear of height and took her flying on his broom everyday no matter how much she protested against it. Once on the broom she would wrap her arms around him tightly, closing her eyes and hanging on for dear life.
oOoOo
Wednesday, Angela, Draco and his parents went to Diagon Alley to buy the two teens' school supplies. Lucius brought them to Knockturn Alley for an errand in Borgin and Burkes' shop. The dark haired girl was busy looking around in the shop while Draco stuck close to his parents who were talking to Mr Borgin, wishing to sell some of their dark artifacts.
Soon enough, she found who she was looking for and was hugging the living daylight out of Harry who seemed very confused but happy to see her.
"I'm not here alone so I can't stay with you Ry' but don't worry! Once we leave with the Malfoys, wait a bit before leaving the shop and go to the left. Don't stop, don't look at anyone and just run left. You'll meet up with Hagrid soon enough I promise. He'll keep you safe and will be able to bring you back to the Weasleys." she had explained in ushered whispers, unwilling to bring attention on her.
After a last wink she had joined back the other three who seemed about to go look for her in order to leave. She smiled as if nothing happened and commented off handedly that the shop had a very interesting collection of artifacts, pleasing Mr Borgin.
It was inside Flourish and Blotts that she saw Harry again, waving at him with a reassuring smile. She frowned at Lockhart, definitely not liking the pretentious wizard. She took a good look at her future professor while holding Draco's arm with her hand and frowned. He wasn't even that handsome, she couldn't understand the fuss made by everyone around them.
"Would you look at that, the famous Harry Potter, can't even enter a library without making the news." Drawled Draco before yelping inelegantly when Angela stepped on his foot.
"Leave him be, he didn't ask for it!" shot back Ginny with a murderous glare.
"Oh my, did you find a girlfriend, Potter?" Another undignified yelp followed and Draco glared at the girl beside him, asking her silently what was her problem while Ginny blushed furiously.
"Ignore him, he's being a prat today." said Angela, shaking her head, wishing that her friends would get along but knowing better than to hope for the impossible.
"Hi Eli! Oh it's you Malfoy, you must be surprised to see Harry here." Ron greeted them, having managed to join them through the Lockhart fangirls.
"I'm more surprised to see you in a shop, Weasley." Sneered the blond. "I suppose your parents won't have anything to eat for a month after buying you all those books."
Hermione and Harry held back Ron while the slytherin girl tugged sharply on one of the almost white strands of hair, making the boy hold his head with a third yelp.
"Unhand me, Angie!"
"Stop being a prat and I'll consider it Dray." she deadpanned.
Before the blond could retort anything, Mr Weasley's voice reached them. "Ron, what are you doing? Come on, let's get out of here, it's too crowded!"
"Well, well, well, Arthur Weasley" came the cold drawl of Lucius's voice who was now standing behind Draco and Angela, his free hand on his son's shoulder, the other holding his cane.
"Lucius." replied the red-head with a curt nod.
"A lot of work at the ministry, I hear. All those raids, I hope that at least they pay you overtime, do they?" He picked the battered transfiguration book in Ginny's cauldron and sneered. "It seems they don't. Why bother being a dishonor to the name of a wizard if you don't even get paid for it?"
"We don't have the same views on the honor of a wizard, Malfoy." retorted Mr Weasley, redder than his two children.
Before Lucius could add a comment on the company of muggles that the Weasley kept, Angela cleared her throat. "Lord Malfoy, we should finish our shopping and head back home, someone of your standing surely has better things to do than quarrel in a library over such matters." Her sneer rivaled Severus' at that time when she put emphasis on the last if speaking of something particularly foul.
Lucius calmed at the intervention and chuckled. "Of course you are right, Angela. Proper wizards like us have better places to be. Let's not waste any more time."
She silently released a sigh of relief as the blond wizard gave back the book to Ginny with a last scathing comment on her family's lack of wealth. Harry shot the black haired girl a grateful glance as he knew that they were this close to having an actual brawl in the library if the situation had continued.
oOoOo
During Angela's absence, the potion master had busied himself with a special project. Something he hadn't told anyone about, in case he didn't succeed. He was working on a delicate and very sensitive potion that could be bastardized as a mood stabilizer.
After Angela had admitted taking muggle pills to help regulate her changing and intense emotions before she crossed over, Severus had made it his personal mission to create something to replace the pills. He knew her condition better than anyone at this point so he was confident he could make it. He realized that she couldn't go on without anything as proven by the various anxiety attacks she had had through the school year.
He based his research on the calming draught, aiming to make it better suited for long term use. Making sure emotions weren't dampened too much or not enough presented quite a challenge for the potion master who couldn't help but enjoy the difficulty. The result would be tailor made for Angela and probably ill suited to anyone else but it was a huge step forward in the potion world and for mind healing among wizards.
Soon enough, Angela came back from her two weeks at the Malfoy's, returning to her guardian for the remainder of the holidays. Severus told her about the potion and started the testing phase with her. Everyday she would floo to the Burrow and spend some time with Harry and the Weasley, Molly taking her in just like she did with the Boy-who-lived, making her an honorary Weasley. The girl used her metamorphmagus power to turn her hair the same shade of orange the Weasley had and jokingly said that that way she was already part of the family. Molly had crushed her in a hug and told her she was happy to have a second daughter. That had made her hair turn as red as her face, touched as she was by the statement, by the so easy acceptance.
The evening she would floo back to Spinner's End and hug the potion professor before reporting how her mental state had been during the day, allowing Snape to make adjustments to the potion he was creating for her.
It was decided that she would board the Hogwarts express with the Weasley and since she was there, they couldn't take Mr Weasley's car due to not enough space so they would floo to the platform.
She had her shrunken luggage in her pocket along with Harry's as she held his hand while using the other to throw floo powder. She called clearly "Platform 9 ¾" before stepping in the green flames with her brother.
They made it to the platform without any issue, waited for the whole Weasley clan to join them and set up to find an empty compartment for the trip. Angela quickly fell asleep with her head on Harry's shoulder while he chatted with Ron and Hermione who had joined them in the train.