A/N: This chapter explains why in the hell I created a Mary Sue. Thank you to those of you who reviewed; now more than one person has given me reviews! Yay! Enjoy.

P.S. Sorry it's boring, I –

Severus: Shut up, you idiot!

A/N 2: The main point of getting rid of all those alterations I had the first time around was to not make her a Mary Sue, so that note no longer makes sense.

Mina was very confused.

She'd had dreams before, of course, but none of them had ever been pleasant. She had always had flashback nightmares from things that had already happened to her in the place she used to be. She began to wonder if the pleasant dream would ever come back. Maybe that was part of not being tortured all day, every day. Perhaps she would have more pleasant dreams.

But nothing in Mina's life that was pleasant had ever stuck around, so just in case, she made sure to embrace the entirety of the dream.

She took a deep breath. She had never smelled anything so pleasant as the flowers around her. She tried to put names to them but realized that the Death Eater memories she possessed didn't particularly care about pairing flower names with scents. They were more concerned about what they were doing in the gardens. She shuddered and cast the thought from her mind. It didn't matter that she couldn't name them; at least they smelled nice.

She bent down and plucked one of the more exotic looking pink flowers. She wasn't sure how the more exotic flowers came to grow in the same field as the more domestic ones, but she didn't care. She liked this dream. Beside her, Hugo turned into a sparrow and flew low across the field, skimming the tops of the flower petals with his wings. Yes, she and Hugo both liked this dream. She wasn't about to question its authenticity.

A flicker of movement in the corner of her eye made Mina's head shoot straight up. Before her stood two people, one a man, the other a woman. They were holding hands and looked quite happy together. The man had jet-black hair that looked as though he had just hopped off a broom and his eyes were hazel. The woman had red hair and vibrant green eyes that matched the stalks of the flowers at her feet. Mina somehow inherently knew that this woman was her mother. She recognized the man beside Lily and decided that it must be James Potter, who she could barely recall from her memories but knew was a good man. On Lily's other side was a young doe and Mina couldn't help but stiffen in shock. She'd never seen a woman with an anima before. And surprisingly, the doe looked exactly like Severus'. She switched her gaze to James' anima and discovered that he did not have an anima, but rather an animus, a stag. No wonder the two were drawn to each other, she thought. They're both the odd ones out.

As they came closer, Mina took a step back. She wasn't sure why they were in her dream, but she was afraid the Death Eaters had taken on disguises and were trying to trick her. She clutched the flower tightly as she retreated. They stopped.

"It's all right, Mina," said Lily. "We are not Death Eaters in disguise." Mina looked up and down the lengths of the people before her and shook her head. "We promise. We are souls come back from beyond the veil for just long enough to talk to you." Mina narrowed her eyes. Why would souls return from the dead just to talk to her? It didn't seem quite right. "Come, sit," her mother said. She settled on the ground and James settled next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him as Mina settled on the ground in front of them, still a meter or so away just to be safe. They sat in silence for a moment, then Lily said, "Mina, have you seen the results of a Diagnostic Spell recently?" Mina shook her head. "Well, Diagnostic Spells always reveal what we call Alterations to Anatomy. Usually, Alterations are things like allergies. But there are certain Alterations that are gifts.

"You have some of those gifts, Mina.

"You have been given the gifts of being a wolfchild and an Animi Speaker." Mina narrowed her eyes again. "But now, you have a decision to make."

Mina looked at Lily and James curiously, not at all sure what they were talking about. Lily sighed and carefully explained what both gifts entailed, how they were used, and what they meant in day to day life.

"Now you must make a choice," said James. "You were born a wolfchild because your father was Fenrir Greyback, and that is something that cannot be taken away. But you must decide if you want to remain an Animi Speaker."

"Why?" Mina asked, speaking for the first time since she had been taken from under the noses of the Death Eaters.

"Lots of people are born as Animi Speakers," he explained. "It's why babies sometimes point and laugh at thin air. No one else can see what it is they're so excited about, but in truth, they can see their animi playing with other animi, or something similar at least. The point is, most people lose this ability by the time they can start remembering things, usually two or three. You were taken before yours faded, and we used our influence to allow you to keep the ability for the duration of your capture as it made you more powerful and helped you to endure the Death Eaters' torture. Technically, you should no longer have this gift, but since you do and you're so used to having it, circumstances have dramatically changed."

"Therefore, you must decide," said Lily. "You will be allowed to retain your status as a wolfchild because it is something built into your DNA, but the other gift is one you must decide if you want. Choose carefully."

Mina wanted to protest. If Lily and James had influenced her fate and somehow allowed her to keep the ability, she shouldn't have to make this choice. It was obviously some sort of test and she didn't want to find out what happened if she chose wrong. She wasn't even sure if there was a wrong choice. With the Death Eaters, both answers had always been wrong and she'd ended up in pain regardless of what she'd said or done. Now, with Severus Snape, both answers were always right. She could have chosen to show him their animi or not, and to not have done so would certainly have been safe, but, surprisingly, daring to show him had also been right.

Severus Snape. She liked him. He was kind to her and acted as though he genuinely cared for her. Certainly the other adults who had rescued her were the same way, but she found herself somehow drawn to him. Something about the way he looked at her….

She sighed. What the hell was she going to pick?

Knowing that she had all the time in the world, Mina began to sort through the pros and cons of both options.

The Animi Speaker part of her had certainly played out most prevalently in the past. She had never seen a day that wasn't populated by a variety of animals all around her that only she could see. To be quite honest, it was sort of annoying to be so different. It was the reason the Death Eaters had hated her, wasn't it? Hadn't they said so themselves? Besides, she was already going to be different because she was a wolfchild or whatever – the last thing she needed was to be different in yet another way. Being able to interact with the animi had also doubled her pain and fear because she and Hugo shared everything, mentally and emotionally at least.

But then she looked at Hugo and realized she didn't have a single memory where she hadn't seen Hugo there right be her side. And even though it could sometimes double the pain and fear, she liked having Hugo there. Sometimes he was just nice to look at and to know that she wasn't alone. She'd even managed to have conversations with him. And who was she to talk about having to share his mind? He had to share her physical state too, but if he received injuries different to her own, she didn't have to deal with them. He had taken twice as many physical injuries as she had in their time in the dark, and yet he'd still been able to make her smile occasionally. Sometimes he had even managed to get her to smile and laugh a little in her small piece of hell. He had always helped her, and she couldn't imagine life without him. Despite the fact that he reacted the same way her inner self did, he had a surprisingly different personality. Mina was quite willing to mostly submit to the Death Eaters, but Hugo wanted to kick their arses. And besides, seeing other people's animi was nice too. She could tell what their true intentions were without having to read their minds. Hugo could even potentially help her in a fight, not just because she would be able to see the animi and people's true intentions, but because he was another set of eyes, after all.

Yes. She'd keep it.

Quietly, she told Lily and James what she had decided. They smiled at her and congratulated her on her choice, saying it was a good one and would be helpful in the long run, as either choice would have been. And as she looked down at Hugo, who had hopped onto her shoulder, she realized that his sparrow eyes looked quite relieved. He liked having her there too, and he wanted to be able to talk to her forever. Mina looked back at James and Lily and smiled, if only a little.

Yes, she had made the right choice.

She spent a little while after that talking to her parents. They explained how Lily was raped by Greyback and how Mina was the result. They explained that she had a twin half-brother named Harry Potter whose lightning scar was famous throughout the world for defeating Voldemort, but that very few people knew she had even existed, let alone knew she was still alive because she had disappeared a month before Voldemort found them. Greyback had pleaded for his daughter's life so he could train her to be like him and Voldemort had, surprisingly, obliged. After all, the prophecy had spoken of a 'he,' had it not?

Mina narrowed her eyes in anger as she heard that Greyback wanted to make her like him. Hugo leapt off her shoulder and transformed into a snarling wolverine. How dare he think that he could turn her into something as evil and twisted as him? How dare he think that she would be willing to stand by and watch him torture and rape others?

How dare he?

Mina struggled to calm herself and when she did, Lily and James continued. Hugo transformed into a crab now, calm, but on the verge of going nuts again.

Lily and James explained how Voldemort had finally fallen that night in Godric's Hollow and how most children were sent to Hogwarts. They explained that wands chose wizards and that no one understood why. They explained most of the wizarding world.

Then Lily told her about Severus, how he had a rough childhood past himself (though he hadn't been Cruciated till he was seventeen) and how James hadn't exactly helped. James blushed and Mina shot daggers at him with her eyes while Hugo shifted into a mongoose, hissing at the stag, which hung its head from its position on the ground. From how Lily was explaining it, Severus had done nothing to provoke James and most of what he did do was in retaliation for something James did. Given the fact that James wasn't protesting, she figured it was pretty accurate.

Lily explained how Severus had become a spy for Dumbledore to try to fix what he believed he had done wrong and how it had unfortunately failed. She explained that he still felt guilty and that his guilt was part of the reason why he wanted to help Mina so much. She reassured Mina that Severus truly cared for her however, and would help her in any way he could.

But suddenly, Lily and James' forms started flickering and they abruptly rose.

"We must go now, child," they said.

"Will I ever see you again?" she asked.

They nodded. "When you yourself cross the veil, we will be waiting for you. But don't forget that we'll never truly leave you. We'll always be with you." They both laid their hands on her heart. "In here."

Then they turned and walked away and Mina closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was no longer in the field of flowers, but was now back in the hospital bed. She found herself looking at Severus and she gave him a small smile. He smiled back and she felt warmth flood her chest.

He cared. He truly cared.

A/N: So for those of you wondering why I created a Mary Sue, there you have it. I don't intend to write with a Mary Sue; it makes things too easy for her to bypass. There are no challenges for her. Review please!

A/N 2: Like I said, no longer a Mary Sue, but I guess the way this chapter now makes her more of a Mary Sue, with the new path the story is taking. I don't even know if this A/N makes sense…