Chapter 10.

That Old Bat

Usual Disclaimers apply

Alana sat in the window of her room, staring at the people beneath her, walking…

"I always wanted to come to London, and now that I'm here I'm stuck in this house… I would give anything to go to Diagon Alley with you…"

"I know… it would be great if you could come, but mum says you have transfiguration with Sirius…" Ginny was sitting on Alana's bed, playing with a black teddy bear.

"And she's afraid I might run into Dupond and he'll try to do something to me…" She remembered what Dumbledore had told her that very morning. Dupond had been tortured by Voldemort, the reason was unclear, but nevertheless it wasn't safe for her to cross paths with him, especially in a place with no adult supervision.

Ginny nodded, unsure of what to say. Instead, she decided to change the subject.

"You never told me how things went with Snape…staying at his house must have being horrid"

"It wasn't really that bad…"

"What?" Ginny jumped in the bed. Alana walked up to her and sat beside her.

"Really, it's not like we talked the night away… we ate dinner and I went to sleep" She had agreed with Snape that nobody would find out of her dream, she didn't want to keep upsetting people. He had agreed without much effort and it had seemed very decent to Alana. "I stayed in his old room…"

"What was it like?" Ginny's eyed widened

"Normal, like any other room, no bat bones or shrunken heads in case you were thinking down that line…"

"Disappointing…" Alana laughed sincerely.

"I really don't get why you all hate him so much" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I know, he's not the most fun person to be around, but he's not that mean…"

"He is! Wait until you get sorted…. Unless you make it into Slytherin he'll be as mean to you as he is to us…" Ginny said.

"Yeah…about that… which house do you think I'll get into? I'm literally dying to know!"

"Well, you have the back bone to make it as a lion, but if your mum was a raven then that's a possibility also…"

"I just wish I knew where my real dad was placed"

"Why don't you ask Sirius if he knows anything?"

"He won't tell me, I overheard the Order talking about it, they know but they don't want me to find out"

"Why?"

"I don't know… they said something about not being their place to tell me…"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know, maybe he's got a family now and he can't make it to tell his wife and kids about an affair he had so long ago and that now he's found out about me…"

"Yeah, that could be it…"

Harry, Ron and Hermione, followed by George and Fred came through the door.

"Hey! Alana what's up?" They all sat around the bed and talked for a while, about quidditch, school and other stuff.

"What does he look like?" Alana was curious to know more about Voldemort, as she had been given little information throughout her life.

"He's ugly" Harry answered her "his hands are kind of yellow and bonny, his fingers are really long, he looks like a skeleton, and his face always makes me shiver every time I remember it, he doesn't have a nose, just two holes…" Alana remembered her dream; it fitted perfectly to Harry's description.

"What's wrong Alana?" Hermione placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Nothing, I just…"

"Hey! Tell us about your night at Snape House of Horror!"

"Yeah! Fred's right! We want to know!" Alana eyed the twins.

"I already told Ginny, it wasn't that bad, we ate dinner and then he told me to sleep in his old room, the next morning when I woke up we returned here"

"No you didn't, you came back here around twelve, there's no way you slept that much…"

She looked at Fred "I had to check on a few potions I had brewed the day before. And what's up with all of this fascination with Snape?"

"Why not?" George said.

"Yeah, he's weird, nobody knows anything about the way he lives outside of the school..."

"What is his house like?" Ron inquired.

"He has a lot of books" Alana didn't really know what to say.

"That sounds like Snape" Hermione said.

"Yeah, a book worm, what else would he do with his spare time? Fred laughed and Alana gave him a look. "Oh, come on Alana, it's not like he has the busiest social life…"

"You don't know that! Maybe he does…" Everyone laughed at her comment, even she chuckled a bit. They were all so concerned with their jokes that they did not notice the door opening, or the man coming through it.

"If I could have a word with Miss Alana…" Their heads turned at exactly the same time. Ron was the first to get up and run for the door followed by Harry, the twins and Hermione. Ginny gave Alana a warm look that reminded her of Mrs. Weasley and then left.

"How long have you been standing there?" His eyes widened.

"Long enough"

"I'm sorry…"

"You shouldn't apologize for other people" She looked at him. "I wanted to tell you that since on Sunday the rest of the young ones are leaving for Longbottom's party you could spend the day working on my lab… it's nearly time for Lupin to take his wolfsbane"

"That sounds great Professor, thank you"

"This will be our last lesson, I will be leaving for Hogwarts on Monday, and then there's two weeks until you board the train"

"Oh… I was enjoying them very much"

He turned to leave but was hit by an unexpected question.

"Professor…" He faced her. "I was wondering if I could ask you something…"

"What is it?"

"Did you know my mother?"

The light left his eyes, so did the little color he had on his cheeks.

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know… Sirius knew her, and since you are about the same age as he's I thought…"

"I did know her, but not until I left Hogwarts"

"Ohh…" She didn't know what else to say.

"Is that all…?"

"Yes…"

"I almost forgot, Professor Dumbledore is downstairs, he wants you to come down" She got up and followed him down the stairs.

"You know… if you would have searched my room properly you would have found there were a few old bat bones there…" She began laughing hardly and came into the kitchen with a broad smile in her face.

Dumbledore explained to her something she already knew. For her own safety she was to skip the trip to Diagon Alley.

"That's fine I have lessons with Sirius anyway"

"What about Neville's birthday, you can go if you want…" Mrs. Weasley felt sort of bad for the girl.

"I wasn't invited, but that's fine, Professor Snape offered to let me work on his lab that day"

"That should be fun" Moody said sarcastically.

Days went by quickly and it was time for Alana to go to Snape's house and the rest of the teens to go to Neville's party.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Neville said he didn't invite you because he didn't know you were with us, but that you could come if you wanted" Ron seemed to be trying to save her from the class.

"No, it's ok, I'm actually looking forward to this, I have to prepare wolfsbane for Remus"

"If you are sure…" With that he followed the rest of them into the chimney and disappeared into the green smoke.

"Now, grab some of the powder and yell the address clearly" Mrs. Weasley handed her a bag and she took a fistful of the green powder.

"Severus Snape, 7th Wolkmorth Street, Spinner's End" With that she was gone of Grimmauld Place and into the house of the Potion's master.

"Ouch!" She had fallen flat on her butt.

"Here" He ran to her and held out her hand to help her up.

"Thanks…"

"Don't worry… let's get to work"

After the potions were done Alana's stomach was roaring so loud it must have tipped off Snape.

"Do you want some tea?"

"Yes that would be nice, thanks"

They climbed up the stairs and walked into the kitchen where Snape prepared the drinks.

"I think I have some cookies here" He opened and closed the doors of the counter. "Here" He handed them to her.

"Thanks" She opened the bag and took a bite, her face clutching in disgust.

"What is it?" She looked on the back of the package.

"They expired two years ago…" She pulled the cookie out of her mouth and threw it, along with the others in the trash.

"As you might realize I do not spend too much time here…"

"Don't mind it, I'll go to the store and get some"

"There's one right around the corner, let me go look for some muggle money"

"I have some, I'll get them."

She walked out of the house and began strutting towards the store. She slowed her pace and looked around. This was indeed a sad neighborhood. There were no children playing on the street, or women gossiping in the doorways. She thought of her street back in Chile, it was so alive, filled with kids riding bicycles and people who knew her name, who saw her grow up and always waved her as she walked by them. Of course those faces had changed when her mother died; they were filled with pity now.

She came into the house, with a bag of vanilla flavored muffins in her hand. They sat down on the table and sipped their tea slowly, both of them not wanting to part, but unknowing why…

"I should get you back, it's almost eight"

She got up and followed him into the living room.

"Here, I thought you might like this" He handed her a book.

"It's the history of the school, thanks" She looked at it, puzzled.

"It was mine, it has some annotations you might find useful, but I would appreciate you didn't tell your friends about it… we wouldn't want them to think I can be nice once in a while"

"Sure, it'll be our little secret" She smiled and gave him a short hug.

When they were back at the garden of Grimmauld Place Alana took care not to step in Sirius roses, but Snape wasn't so thoughtful.

She told everybody she wasn't hungry and Snape backed her up saying she had just eaten a dozen muffins. With Mrs. Weasley's permission she ran upstairs. Realizing nobody had return from the party she went into her room and began reading the book.

"How did everything go?"

"Fine Lupin thank you, here" He handed her the potion made by the girl.

"Thank you Snape"

"Thank the girl; she's the one who brewed it"

With that he left the house through the front door and as he walked he thought of the recent events. This girl puzzled him more and more every time they spent time together. Luckily he was leaving for Hogwarts and wouldn't see her alone anymore. The feelings that were growing inside of him were too dangerous for him and her as well.

I know I promised a Hogwarts chapter but this had to be done! And I don't want to make really long chapters because… I don't know, but I don't want to!

So I hope u like this and let me know your thoughts! Also I'm taking a little poll to know where u all think I should place Alana. Should she be a raven like mum, a snake like dad or a lion like her great granddad?

Let me know!

Love!