Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. Thanks for letting us have fun with him, J.K.
A/N: Welcome you lovely, lovely readers. Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Don't Jinx It
"Give us one o' those, Anna." Hagrid called, watching the child help by rolling the pumpkin along like a big wheel. He laughed. She smiled widely.
"Are you excited for tonigh'?" He asked as he stuck his knife in one pumpkin and began carving a jagged mouth. "Halloween is a very special night in the castle, you'll see. Here ya' go; carve that one up for me."
Taking a knife bigger than her hand, Anna gave a halfhearted jab at the pumpkin. It was barely blemished.
"No that won't do! Just imagine," he said with a wink. "It's that awful Sophia what shoved you in that closet and hid your shoes." He chortled at her scandalized expression. "Luna told me."
Anna tried attacking the pumpkin again. "Come on, now mean it." Hagrid teased. "Mean it."
Anna stabbed the pumpkin in the head with all her strength. She couldn't move the blade once it was inside, buried too deep. Hagrid laughed again, slapping his knee. He reached out, seizing the handle in his giant hand, and easily swiped it around the top. She pulled off the circle by the stem and set it aside, dipping her hands into the gooey insides. She scooped out the seeds, orange up to the elbows, splattering the apron he'd loaned her. Fang sniffed the mixture on the ground, licked it tentatively then abandoned it. He found Anna more appetizing.
"Fang, leave her be." Hagrid warned, focused on trying to keep his pumpkin from being cross eyed. Once Anna's pumpkin was emptied, she set to work, biting her tongue in concentration, on perfecting its face. "Now let's see it, master artist." Hagrid walked over when she was done. "A raven." Hagrid observed the cartoon outline of a bird. "Not bad."
She tugged off her apron, still smiling, and handed it to him. "Got to go, 'ave you?" She nodded. "Alright, see you tonight then." He watched her walk all the way back to castle, alone.
-00-
"Is everyone ready for this evening's feast?" Flickwick asked, tapping on the music stand with his wand.
The excited chatter of his choir hushed to murmurs of agreement. He beamed at them all, having been working hard with them over the past weeks. He thought tonight would come as a pleasant surprise to the school. From the top, they began.
At a few places, one violin was out of sorts. Notes would soar and hop playfully, but then, in the background, a tiny cringe interrupted the harmony for only a second. A few of his choir members were irked, but with each screech or squeak Anna's instrument made, Sophia Worhold seemed to grow increasingly livid. The dark haired girl had a beautiful voice and seemed to be personally affronted that anything would disturb their music.
Flitwick admittedly had thought of charming the violin just for tonight, to give his newest musician more confidence. Anna had been working so hard, but he had a sneaking suspicious she would notice if he did anything to it, so he did not. What was a small misstep here and there, really?
Ravenclaws had a well-earned reputation for being perfectionists, he well knew, but he had learned that being sensitive to the imperfections of others was the only hope of ever helping them overcome them. Being smart and being nice, Fillius had long said, were not mutually exclusive.
"If you know you're going to make a mistake, don't play those parts in the performance." Cho Chang, his Ravenclaw violinist suggested to Miss Green as they all dispersed until the feast. "The other violins will get it, so no one will know."
"Don't worry, you'll get it." Susan Bones smiled encouragingly. "The important thing is to enjoy yourself." Anna seemed unbothered, so their professor said nothing.
Perhaps, though, she was more difficult to read than he predicted, for when they were assembled in the Great Hall, he counted his group proudly, tapping the music stand again. It was time to begin, he gave a little cough, but he was one short. One violin was sitting alone.
There was no time to wait. They began. As their bewitching tune filled the hall, he wondered where Miss Green might be and if it had anything to do with Miss Worhold's beaming smile or whether that was just relief and enjoyment.
He was not the only one her absence bothered he knew because when they concluded, an upset Cho Chang approached her head of house, wringing her hands. "Professor? I feel really awful. I think I might have accidentally scared Anna away. Do you have any idea where she might be so I can go apologize?"
"I do not, my dear," he told her. "But if you do find her perhaps we would all benefit if you were to give her a few lessons, maybe even show her a little friendship?"
"Yes, sir." Cho nodded, still worried. Luna Lovegood too, who he'd seen helping the girl to a class when lost and sitting with in the common room, seemed to continue to look for the younger student throughout dinner.
Anna did not attend the feast. The charms professor was settled on going to look for her afterwards, but following the terrible news of the attack on the Fat Lady, he had to redirect his search to finding someone else entirely: Sirius Black.
-00-
Severus Snape wanted to be the one to find him. He wanted to see Black covering before him, tattooed and filthy and too thin, in the same halls were the boy and his best mate once tormented the lonely, young Severus. He wanted to see the fear in the eyes of Lily's betrayer, other betrayer, turn into hollow darkness as the dementors sucked out his twisted soul. Severus would smirk as it happened, maybe even laugh aloud.
The idea that the opposite might happen, that Black might hurt Potter right under the same roof as himself, would be the most unbearable failure. The boy may be an unbearable brat, but he was just a boy nonetheless, and boy the potions master had vowed to protect. Severus could not imagine seeing those green eyes staring blankly, lifeless, again. He did not want to come upon in the night, to carry inside, the small body of the boy he'd lifted from his crib as they both wept. Dumbledore's grief would be unbearable to watch, as would the horror of all the children that one of them was murdered in the castle. Hogwarts would no longer be considered safe.
He would have no reason to continue.
So to say that Snape stalked through the castle, wand out, as though his life depended on it would be literal.
He stopped short as he passed an open window.
"You shouldn't be here." He said, stepping out from the shadows. She jumped a little, which was rather dangerous considering she was sitting on a window sill, one leg dangling hundreds of feet from the ground.
He glanced around for Black, wand braced for attack, moving protectively to block the small figure sitting in the window. "All students have been moved into the Great Hall." He told her. She continued to sit looking down at the foggy, cool grounds through the dark. He leaned out the window, his form having to lean so close that his robes brushed her.
Looking at her dangling leg, swinging back and forth over the drop, he spied she was once again shoeless. He sighed. That's when he glimpsed something moving, down there in the mist. His head snapped towards her gold ones.
"Did you see something?" He asked quietly.
She nodded. Black might be out there then. The girl showed no fear, he noted with surprise. She might have been another foolhardy Gryffindor. His patience was gone; he did not have time to coax or force her off her perch.
"Come on." He picked the first year up and removed her from the window, closing it, latching it, as he set her on the stone floor. He strode quickly, so that she had to run to keep up. Finally, they reached the Great Hall.
"Professor," He whispered. He released her hand at the doors.
Dumbledore turned, his eyes twinkling as they fell on her small form not much higher than his waist. "Ah, I see you have located Anna."
"I think he's left the castle." Snape said darkly.
"Yes. I think you are right. I did not expect him to stay long." Dumbledore's voice was level, but deep. He sighed.
"Back to bed." Snape instructed her, shooing her away before he continued his conversation with the headmaster. The child turned and walked back towards the sea of sleeping students.
"Oh and Miss Green," the headmaster murmured, tipping his head down towards her, eyes twinkling over his glasses. "Happy birthday."
Severus and approaching McGonagall were surprised by this development. The small smile Anna offered was sweeter and more innocent than expected from such a child, whatever such that may be.
There was something strange about the child having a birthday that day—not just that it was Halloween, but also that it was the anniversary of the worst day of his life, and, he was reminded, probably of Harry's life and Remus Lupin's for that matter—the night of James and Lily's murder. It was not just that, though. It was also that until that night, he had not realized it was her birthday at all.
There had been no confetti-filled or singing cards, no parcels being piled at her table in the morning. There had been no birthday hats or crowns or badges in the halls. No singing from her house. No obnoxious cheerfulness from her in class, as it was usually when it was student's birthday.
There were more important matters at hand to discuss, naturally, but for some reason he could not put his wand on, it bothered him.
Even Severus had one friend at school. At least he had his mother, for a while.
He recalled what Dumbledore had said, about her family being murdered. Perhaps she had not always been neglected and alone. Perhaps she had once had birthday cakes and presents.
Then, he recalled what Lily had once done for him, a small gesture that had made him glow with happiness the way only she could. Something he would never forget.
One day late, on November first, Anna Green found at her bedside a cupcake lit with a single magical candle that would burn until she blew it out. It was dark chocolate with light blue frosting, proper Ravenclaw house colors.
Since professor Snape had more magical expertise than a third year student, even a gifted young witch like Lily Evans, he was able to add something else to the candle as well with a simple spell.
The note he handed to the house elf read: "Make a wish."-SS.
He did not need to include the instruction that if the she told anyone the wish, it would not come true.
A/N: Hey you! Yeah you. Please leave a quick review and let me know what you think and what you want! Thanks for reading. Next chapter is ready to go once I get some feedback for this one.