I own nothing! I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters! I just own the Snape family members (except for Severus, of course), and the other OC's.

Kiru stepped into St. Mungo's for Magical Maladies and Injuries, not liking it at all. Her Ocarina was in her robes, and her new, and extremely snarky, sarcastic and hilarious familiar, was on her shoulder. The petted the raven, who tuned into the radio often. Kiru smirked, vowing to listen to quite a few songs and have the bird memorize them so that she and her classmates could get quite a few good laughs out of its sick sense of humor that resembled her own, just on a much more hyperactive note that had been tormented out of her as a child. It still didn't stop her from loving it.

She walked up a few flights of stairs, looking around, and stopped short at the familiar face of Neville Longbottom, one of the boys in Harry's year and a fellow Gryffindor of his. She followed him, knocking lightly on the door after letting the boy have a word with his parents. She smiled softly, and the boy's face paled as a shadow loomed over Kiru. She raised her eyebrows, no doubt in her mind as to who was behind her acting as bodyguard again.

"Sorry," Kiru smiled softly. "May we come in? I've got a few questions I'd like answered, if that's alright with you, Mrs. Longbottom."

"Augusta," Severus nodded curtly. "I suggest you take a seat, Mr. Longbottom, before you give yourself a panic attack from my mere presence."

"Eat Lime, scumball! Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the fledgling raven sang happily. "I shall not fall! Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"You'll be falling if I catch you singing that again, you insensible bird!" Severus snapped as he flicked his wrist at the small bird. "You haven't been my daughter's familiar for an entire week and you already drive me mad. How does she live with you?"

"Oh, come on, dad!" Kiru grinned. "Skullduggery didn't mean anything by it! he's just being funny, aren't you, Skull?"

"When you leave my colors fade to gray! Numa numa, eh," the bird now sang just as O-zone had, "Numa Numa Numa, eh. Every word of love I used to say – now I paint it every day!"

"Okay, we get it," the old woman snapped. "What do you want, girl?"

"This girl is his daughter," the raven spat in Mufasa's deep voice, replicated from Kiru's watching Disney's The Lion King series with Draco Malfoy. "And your future queen!"

"Oh, I shall practice my curtsey," Severus smirked.

"Don't turn your back on me, Scar," the raven quoted, and the four Longbottom family members stared at it.

"Oh, no, Skullduggery – perhaps you shouldn't turn your back on me," Severus retorted as he brushed a finger against one of the bird's tail feathers. The bird roared, just as Mufasa had in the movie. "It seems I have won this round."

"My precious," the bird rasped out as he hopped closer to Kiru's ear, sounding exactly like Gollum. Kiru laughed as the Animagus chuckled in amusement at the bird.

"However did you get him to sit through every bloody Disney movie that you showed those poor wizard-raised children?" Severus said shaking his head. "And to make it worse, you showed him the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. You should have shown him Star Wars, Kiru."

"Do or Do not. There is no try," the bird said in Snape's voice, and he again swatted at it with a loud squawk of alarm coming from the bird. "Quothe the Raven – nevermore!"

"Quothe the Professor – shut thy mouth," Severus retorted immediately. "Now."

"P-Professor? Why's the bird talking?" Neville stuttered terrified and trying to back away.

"He's a raven, Longbottom," Snape sneered. "that's what magical raven familiars do. They're a hell of a better use than a bloody owl. Well, except Hermes. I swear, that old boy has yet to fail me even though I've put him through hell and back with all my antics."

"So that's where I get my school-time antics from," Kiru grinned. "I always thought it came from some unknown gene in mom, but it was you!" Snape shot her a dark look. "right, sorry, the business. Neville, Mrs. Longbottom, what would you say if I told you I thought I'd found a way to get your family members back to normal?"

"that's impossible," the old woman spat. "Snape, I suggest you get your child out of my sight! Neville and I already get enough from you as it is!"

"It's true, Augusta," Severus spat. "Kiru has found a way to bypass the insanity that the Cruciatus curse, and even memory curses, inflicts, and can heal people of their mental problems with the greatest of ease. All she needs is a few minutes with Frank and Alice and they'll be as good as new, as though Bellatrix never got their hands on them. Kiru is the one who killed her, you know, Augusta. At least let her try, and if something goes wrong, I will rectify it with any means possible at my disposal."

"Your word?" the old witch snarled, and Severus nodded.

"You have it," Severus said solemnly as he opened the door for them to leave as well. "Skull, you need to come, too. Sixteen or not, Longbottom, you need to come with me."

"Come with me if you want to live," Skull said mimicking Arnold Swarzeneger. Kiru smiled and chuckled as Neville bit his lip.

"I – I want to stay. I – I want to be there for my parents," he said shakily, trembling into the back of his chair and away from the potions master. "With all due respect, Professor, they need to know I'm alright as soon as they wake up so they don't panic and think I'm dead. And – and they might get confused as to why they're in a room with nobody else but a teenage girl they didn't even know existed, sir."

"I'd be docking points for insubordination if we were still in school, Longbottom," Snape snarled feral, but softened his expression visibly as he continued. "However, you are right. If I had gone insane, I would want my child to be there when I was awoken from the hellhole. However, I want you to know that if word got out of what Kiru is about to do, she will die. It is to be completely secret, level ten out of five, Longbottom. Can you handle that?"

"yes, sir," he said confidently. "I – I'll make the Unbreakable Vow if I have to."

"That will not be necessary," Kiru said simply as she gazed at her father. "We all have our secrets, and I'm sure that I'm not the first one to be accused of being a monster. Now, if you don't mind, father, I'd like to get on with trying this new tune mother taught me while she was visiting me last Halloween."

"Fine," Snape huffed as he slammed the door behind him.

"Finally," Kiru hissed as she pulled out her Ocarina. "This, Longbottom, is an Ocarina. Only a descendant of Slytherin can use it, and whenever I play certain tunes, a corresponding thing will happen depending on the tune. The only tunes I learned so far were all spells that are reversible with a general tune known as Hime's Song. The tune I will be using today, however, is permanent. Are you really willing to take this leap of faith in a Slytherin, a Musiclancer daughter of the greasy dungeon bat, even?"

"I heard that!" Snape snapped from the other side of the door.

"Yes," Neville said with renewed confidence. "I – I want to – no, I need to do this. I haven't done anything yet to make my parents proud of me except my grade in Herbology. Do what you need to do, Snape."

"Good," she smiled warmly. "Your parents would have been proud of you for that, I'm sure, Neville. Now, if you feel the need to be healed, go on ahead and listen, but if not – cover your ears. I'm not sure what this song will do to a sane person if they hear it. Dad, can you get me the most powerful muffling spell you have, please?"

Kiru felt her father's magic flare as he cast his most powerful Mufflatio yet, and she smirked as she knew she'd gotten her chance. Neville had his hands clamped over his ears, and a large pair of extremely thick earmuffs as well. Kiru began playing, the notes coming simply to her at first, and repeated the song a few more times as she watched the faces of Neville's parents leave the pallor they'd once had and return to their normal state. The almost glossy looks in their eyes were gone, and their eyes were beginning to shine with more and more light as she kept playing. With careful playing, she finished, and stepped back to watch the magic of a parent's love unfold.

"Neville," they gasped as they took their son into their arms. "How? You – you were so small! How did we get here? Where's Bellatrix? Oh, I'm going to hex her into next year!"

"She's dead, ma'am," Kiru said proudly. "I stabbed her in the back – literally. If you don't believe me, ask my father, he saw the corpse and reported it."

"P-Professor Snape saw the corpse?" Neville gasped, and the two adults stared at him.

"I can see there's a lot to catch up on," Frank Longbottom said wisely. "Neville, how old are you now, son? How long have we been here? Judging by the white everywhere, I can only assume we're in St. Mungo's…"

"I'm – I'm sixteen dad," Neville said fondly looking into his father's eyes. "You've been here for almost fifteen years."

"Damn," Kiru muttered in perfect Japanese. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Wait, if we have a muffling spell, how will he be able to hear us? Crime in Italy, I completely forgot about that!"

"Wait, Neville," Alice said gently. "Did you just say Professor Snape? As in, Severus?"

"You know him?" Neville gasped. "Oh, thank heavens, you can get him to stop being so cruel in Potions!"

"dad's only mean cause you keep melting and blowing up cauldrons," Kiru retorted. "He's mean for a reason, Neville, his own teacher just kept letting the students make prudent mistakes and not even caring for the consequences. Hell, his teacher once had a Hufflepuff's kid's cauldron blow up – literally – and the old walrus did nothing except get every last bloody one of his students – except my dad, since he'd thrown up a defensive spell in preparation for the explosion he knew was inevitable – to the Hospital Wing! He's just making up for what his teacher did wrong, and is trying to make sure that none of his students are in danger from each other's potions!"

"The child's right, Neville," Frank said firmly. "I know Severus. Granted, his temper often gets the best of him, but he's not a heartless jerk as much as everyone thinks he is. In fact-!"

"one more word out of you, Longbottom, and I'll remove that little healing that Kiru did to your brain by Obliviating this conversation from your mind," Severus sneered as he walked back in with the old witch trailing and fuming behind him. "hex me, woman, and I'll curse you into next week."

"I second that notion," Kiru added. "Hey, dad, can we go interrogate this Lockhart Professor that I keep hearing Draco ranting about when it comes to incompetence?"

"I'd love nothing more than that, my dearest daughter," Severus smiled evilly. "Perhaps a few tricks and aces up our own sleeves to ensure that he never again goes into the writing business?"

"Hell yes," Kiru fist pumped with glee, catching herself, "I – I mean, uh, heck yes."

"what I thought," Snape sneered. "Or, Kiru, we can scare him even more by revealing my animagus form, or perhaps by using Skull's uncanny gift of quoting movies and songs? Speaking of which, there's a song I'd like for him to memorize and sing to Minerva that I've been dying to do so. Perhaps I shall barge into your Transfiguration class, no?"

"Ooh, ooh," Kiru said excitedly. "Does it have anything to do with a cat? Cause if so, then I'm in! Oh, this is going to be good! I can't wait! Oh, can we do it during break between mine and Harry's class periods and maybe for another bout as well? Tell them you have an announcement that concerns both of our classes?"

"Kiru, you evil genius," Severus smiled. "You most definitely have inherited my Slytherin brain."

"I do try to make you proud, father," Kiru blushed just before the potions master noticed another familiar face. "Who's that, dad?"

"that, Kiru," Severus said quietly. "is one of the most out-of-place students I have ever taught. The fool was horrible at Potions, but somehow a genius at them when it came to ones pertaining to illnesses, and likewise for Charms. It was obvious that he was destined for St. Mungo's staff – his skills were rivaled by that of Chessie."

"Professor Snape?" a man asked as he straightened up in alarm. "Wh-what brings you here, sir? Can I help you find someone?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart," Snape smirked. "Kiru and I were on our way to see if he was well enough so that he could return to his… monster hunting… before the school year resumed."

"if the git has any brains left," Kiru laughed. "From what I've been told by two eye-witnesses, he tried to use the Obliviate spell on them and it backfired onto him because the wand he'd stolen from one of said students was broken! Quite funny, really, that two twelve year olds defeated him, when he claims to have defeated all these monsters. Load of rubbish if you ask me!"

"Kiru, manners," Snape scolded harshly with a sneer. "Although, the child speaks the truth. The bloody git kept calling himself 'Magical Me'. What I wouldn't give to have wringed his sorry neck at the time."

"Raawk, Sorry neck," Skullduggery squawked, this time mimicking a parrot.

"Skull, that is more than enough out of you for one day," Snape snapped. "I swear, if you weren't Kiru's familiar I'd be stuffing you and baking you a pie and using your feathers in potions. And cease the dramatics, I've had more than enough of it for one day, you ignescent bird."

"Ah, so terribly rude of me," the man said sheepishly shaking his head. "I'm Wellhearst. Dillon Wellhearst, a Hufflepuff. And who are you, my good lady?"

"Kiru 'Bat Shadow' Snape, at your service," Kiru smirked. "I'm the daughter of our infamous Potions Master, and the heiress of Slytherin and Potions."

"Ah," the man said blushing slightly and backing off. "Sorry. Um, right this way, Professor, and young Lady Snape."

"Chicken good," Skull squawked and the older Snape shot him a look that questioned his sanity while the younger one had to focus all her wits to keep from smirking. She did have her father's irrefutable reputation to uphold. It then turned back onto Snape's voice, "Stop that bawling, you prepubescent half-wit, or I will call your mother."

"Skull, do shut up before I turn your tail feathers into potions ingredients," Severus snapped, and the bird squawked as he hopped up and down on Kiru's shoulder's. "Oh, no, Kiru get a hold of your bird, I will not be kicked out of here for his lack of toilet training as of yet."

"Nah," Kiru shot back. "Skull's a smart bird, he knows where he can and can't poop to the point that he will and wont get us kicked out. Besides, I wanna see Lockhart with poop in his hair, don't you?"

"I had my doubts when she introduced herself, Professor," the Hufflepuff admitted. "But I can see the full truth of those words, now, sir. She is most definitely your child, cruel and twisted sense of humor, dark and creepy, wearing black in the heat of summer , Potions expert if I'm correct about her preceeding reputation from the rumors, and all. In short, she's a miniature of her mother on the outside, a miniature you on the inside. It's both indearing and … terrifying … at the same time, to be perfectly honest with you, Professor."

"With the way her mother raised her, I have no doubt that ninety-five percent of what she says or does will either be hyperactive or cruel," Severus smirked evilly. "With my own demented mind mixed in somehow. She was brewing her first potion at age four on the stove, much to her mother's extreme dismay and anger since curses, runes and Charms were always her specialty."

"Yikes," the man shuddered as she entered the room that Skull had flown into, which contained a beaming Lockhart. "I – I'm glad I'm out of Hogwarts now, sir. I never thought I'd say that, but that day has come. She's a Slytherin, I presume?"

"To her core," Severus smirked. "I must admit, I was quite shocked when McGonagall called out her name. the one girlfriend I had had left me for some idiot Gryffindor, and I hadn't the slightest idea that she'd been pregnant at the time. She drove the hat – and the students – insane while it tried to sort her. I'm not sure what she did, but it took a full twenty minutes to sort her."

"So, what was the holdup, surely as her father you must have some sort of clue?"

"Very Slytherin, Wellhearst," Severus smirked. "Yes, she screamed and flung the hat across the hall when it tried to get into her mind. Scared me half to death and I thought she was dying so I ran up behind her to catch her. Needless to say, her past in that household wasn't the best, and I regret not going to check to see if my ex-girlfriend had conceived my child or even raised her."

"Ah, so it was this little one that was in the papers a few years ago with her mother's death and her disappearance?"

"Yes," Severus confirmed. "And no, I had nothing to do with that. Those bloody Marauders did just like they always intervened whenever I tried to settle down and start a family. First their leader with my childhood sweetheart, and then that bloody dunderhead who followed the leader around like some lost puppy had to find the second girl I was considering as a backup – AKA, Kiru's mother. Then the werewolf intervened – don't ask – and finally that bloody fourth member, Wormtail caught up to Kiru's mother after the second Marauder abandoned her and killed her. But, at this point when she showed up I was just happy she was alive and well. In a way, she's an insane asylum all to herself, and most certainly gives me enough trouble as her head of house and her father to account for such. But, in the end, her insane antics somehow end up working for the greater good of the school or the wizarding world than anyone could have ever guessed."

"So, you're saying she's as manipulative as you-know-who used to be?" the man asked incredulously, and Severus smiled and shook his head.

"Oh, no. She's worse, she's much, much worse. She's able to see through, decipher, and counter every one of his plans just by having five minutes in that dimwit's presence," Snape boasted. "Which happened at the end of the Triwizard Tournament two years ago, need I add, at the end of her first year. I don't even need to bring up the fact that as skilled at Legilimency and Occlumency as you-know-who is, even he can't get past Kiru's unblockable shields, and even the masters have the hardest time of this daring task. And that's just her first year. She outsmarted the entire Ministry of Magic this past school year and got one of her own teachers fired for angering her against my family enough to use the Unforgivable curses – which I'm sure you've read about in the Prophet. They actually got all their facts right for once since one of the witnessing students was the author."

"Wow," the healer said shocked. "What house was he or she in?"

"Hufflepuff," Severus sneered. "I gave the boy fifty points for omitting out some of the minor details that I would prefer to be left out of public eye, such as my age, the ages of my children, and the names of my wards. Yes, I house more than one pubescent teen, and I swore to myself that the day that happened would either be the day that Potter became a saint or that the apocalypse was on its way very quickly. As you can see, both occurred."

"Potter? The infamous rulebreaker, Harry Potter? A saint, sir? How is that even possible? Oh, wait, no, never mind. this probably has something to do with house rules and punishments that run in your family, don't they?"

"AAAAAAH! MY HAIR! MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!" a loud wail came from inside Lockhart's room, and Severus surged forward to survey the damage. He smirked because sure enough, Skullduggery had pooped right on Lockhart's now-flat hair. Kiru was smiling like a cat that had just eaten a canary, and Severus looked around a little more to find that the poop wasn't the only culprit in this room.

"Kiru," Severus warned menacingly. "What did you and Skull do this time?"

"Um," she said with a smile. "Skull pooped in his hair, and … I tore up a few photos and nabbed some more to use as scratch paper and a bunch more to sell or something like that. Why?"

"You'd best be happy I don't believe in corporal punishment," the animagus snarled as he led her out.

So, yes, Kiru does some damage with her new familiar. I wanted Skull to have a sense of humor that would make people laugh so that I could let Chessie and Kiru grow up finally.

Anyhow, reviews? Please?