Authour's Note: Hi there readers! Thanks for all the reviews. Here's a little update for you, sorry it's been so long.

~TheVampyre13

Snape's POV

A heavy snowfall started right after Christmas and a blizzard set in. No one could leave the castle and I did all I could to stop myself from feeling antsy. I graded papers and read books. I spent a lot of time in the library, as did Olivia. She didn't irritate me much and I even sat at a table with her and read on occasion. If I wanted to be left alone, I'd go into the Restricted Section. She'd 'humph' and stick her tongue out at me and I'd have to hide behind a shelf so she didn't see me laughing.

The day before term was due to start back, Albus summoned me to his office. I had been thinking about going for a walk around the castle when I received his note. With a sigh, I left the dungeons and made my way upstairs to his office. The hallways and staircases were all void of students, as the castle was drafty. Probably everyone was squirreled away in their warm Common Rooms. I gave the password to the stone griffin, then knocked on his door and was told to enter. Albus was sitting at his desk, a stack of blank papers in front of him. He motioned for me to sit down. I sat.

"The students are due to come back tomorrow-" he began.

"I know this."

"-but the Hogwarts Express can't travel through this blizzard," he continued, ignoring me, "I can't even get to Hogsmeade for a drink at the Three Broomsticks."

"Well, what're you going to do about it?" I asked.

"I was thinking of postponing the start of term, but I wanted your opinion, Severus."

"Sounds like a good idea to me…you're only asking me because Minerva went home for the holidays and can't get back, aren't you?"

"Of course not. I value your opinion."

"Right," I said with a snort.

"Would you help me send off the letters?"

I shrugged indifferently.

I sat there while Albus wrote out a letter to the parents and copied it onto the rest of the stack of blank papers. With a flick of his wand, the papers folded themselves and stuffed themselves in envelopes which had the Hogwarts seal. He levitated the envelopes in front of him. I followed him first to the Owlery, where he gave a sharp whistle and several hundred owls took flight.

"It might be best to go up to the Astronomy Tower where they can fly better," Albus said as we left the Owlery with the owls following us, the sound of their wings almost drowning out the sound of his voice.

We climbed the several flights of stairs to the Astronomy Tower. By the time we got there I was sweating and when we stepped out, I was blasted by freezing cold air. I immediately noticed small footprints in the snow, which I followed with my eyes to a place where someone was hiding in a crook in the wall. I opened my mind and found that it was Olivia. I glanced at Albus. He didn't appear to have noticed her, but it was possible he had.

I watched as Albus gave each of the owls a letter and sent them off.

"You're sending them off in a storm?" demanded a voice. Albus and I both turned to see Olivia standing there. Her face was red but her arms were crossed and she had a determined look in her emerald eyes. Albus raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed harder.

"I… You can't send them off in a blizzard! It's animal cruelty…sir," she finished weakly. Albus surveyed her silently, then smiled slightly.

"The good thing about owls, Miss Cain- they can fly above the storm clouds," he said to her good-naturedly, "And I can assure you, they will enjoy this more than being cooped up in the Owlery, freezing their tail feathers off."

"Oh. Well…I suppose," she muttered, glancing away.

"It's always good to stand up for what you believe in," he said to her, "And I imagine it took a great deal of courage for you to speak to me in such a manner. I admire your courage. Twenty points to Slytherin."

"I…thank you, sir," she said, surprised.

"Not at all. Severus, I can finish up here. Why don't you take Miss Cain inside? You both look half-frozen."

"Yes headmaster," I said obediently and motioned for Olivia to follow me back into the castle.

We headed back down to the dungeons together and Olivia followed me into my office. I stoked the fire and went to sit at my desk. Olivia dragged the chair from in front of my desk and set it in front of the fire. She plopped down with a sigh.

"You know I still don't think he should've made the birds go out in the snow," she said lightly.

"Well, at least you knew not to press the matter," I said to her, "What were you doing out there anyway?"

"Looking at the chaos of the storm. It was beautiful."

"Beautiful enough to freeze to death for? There's ice on your eyelashes and your hair is wet with snow," I pointed out. She blinked twice and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Whatever," she said coolly, "It's better than sitting in the Common Room, which is so cool I probably have mildew in my bones. And the dormitories are stuffy, but at least they are warm. You know, I didn't expect Dumbledore to give me house points."

"He's weird like that," I said agreeably, "He really values courage."

"If it was anything else I would have held my silence. I'll only stand up for animals."

Olivia's POV

It was an entire week before the blizzard ended and classes resumed. The snow and the cold lasted until March however. I awoke early on the first warm day of Spring and went out onto the grounds before it was even time for breakfast. The snow was almost all melted and flowers were already pushing themselves up to reach the sunlight. I stood there and inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of the grass and flowers and the feel of the sun on my face.

I started to walk around the grounds, glad to finally be able to stretch my legs and not be stuck in the castle. I couldn't wait for Herbology class. I noticed a willow tree that was planted on the grounds which, like all the other trees, was covered in snow. It stirred suddenly and shook itself, sending all of the snow flying from its bare branches.

"Cool," I said aloud to myself, "A tree that moves."

I started to approach it. When I got close, the tree slung one of it's branches like a whip and slapped me in the face.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, jumping back, out of it's reach. The place where it slapped me stung. I touched it gingerly and my fingers came ago wet with blood.

With an annoyed sigh, I started back to the castle. I was going to have to go see Madam Pomfrey before I went to breakfast. I had just reached the Entrance Hall when I saw Snape coming out of the dungeons.

"What happened to your face?" he asked, walking over to me.

"Some asshole tree slapped me while I was out enjoying Springtime," I replied. A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth, which he tried to hide.

"That was the Whomping Willow. You're lucky you didn't get close enough to get killed," he said shortly.

"I'll bear that in mind for future reference. Is my face still bleeding?"

"Yes."

"Then I have to hurry and go see Madam Pomfrey before breakfast."

"That's not necessary. I can fix it. Come back to my office with me."

I nodded and followed him back into the dungeons.

When we reached his office he sat me down in the chair in front of his desk. He went into the supply cupboard and came back with two potions- an antiseptic and a healing potion. He gently dabbed some of the antiseptic on my face with a cotton ball.

"Ow," I said, drawing away, "It stings."

"It'll hurt even more if you let it get infected," he said shortly, "Then you could end up with a big scar across your face."

That shut me up and I let him clean the wound, then put healing potion on it. I felt the wound close up and I summoned a mirror to check my reflection. There wasn't a trace of a wound, save for some dried blood residue.

"You should go wash your face before breakfast," Snape said to me, "And be quick about it if you want to eat."

"Alright," I said, heading for the door, "…and thanks."

He said nothing. I rolled my eyes and left.

The good Spring weather didn't last long. By April it was raining nearly every day. I spent evenings and afternoons in the library, pouring over the shelves, reading whatever caught my eye. One Saturday afternoon I found myself reading books on Muggle magic- I found the odd things they believed to be intriguing.

I checked out several books and took them with me to supper, so that I could read while I ate. Mari came and sat beside me and picked up one of the books I wasn't reading.

" 'Wicca, a Guide to Muggle Magic'," she read aloud, "Why-?"

"It is interesting," I replied evenly, not looking up from my book.

"But it's not real," she said bracingly.

"Who says that out kind of magic is the only kind?"

"It's not- house elves have magic, unicorns, some have said dragons…but not Muggles. The word Muggle specifically means 'non-magic folk'."

"Okay, well, thanks for your input," I said, taking the book from her.

"I didn't mean it to be mean, Olivia," she said quickly, "You can read whatever you want."

"I know," I said lightly, "…When is the next new moon?"

"Tonight. Why?"

"That's what I thought. …I think I'm going to try some Muggle magic."

"Ooh, can I watch?" she asked, intrigued.

"Not unless you want to see me naked," I replied, showing her the passage I had just finished reading about bonfires and dancing.

"Where are you going to do it at?" she asked.

"The forest, of course. Around midnight."

"Well… I cannot, in good conscience, let a first year go into the forest alone. I'll have to go with you," she said with a smile.

"Cool," I said, also smiling, "I'm going to leave before curfew, that way I don't have to sneak out. So bring a book to read or something to do while we wait."

"Okay. See you outside- I'm gonna run down to the Common Room."

I nodded to her, then settled back to finish eating and reading.

I stayed in the Great Hall for quite a while then hurried down to the dungeons. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, then headed outside with my books. I found Mari outside, sitting by the kale. She had her wand out and was making bubbles come out of the end. At first they were just, round clear bubbles. Then there were square ones, pyramid-shaped ones, ones shaped like clouds. Some were blue, some were green, or orange, or rainbow-colored.

"That's awesome, "I said as I approached her.

She glanced over her shoulder at me and grinned. Then she made one shaped like a snake and it slithered over to me. It flicked out a soap-bubble tongue and licked my nose, then it popper. I closed my eyes to avoid getting soap in them.

"You have got to teach me that," I insisted.

"Well it's kind of difficult and you're only a first-year…" she said somewhat doubtfully.

"I can learn," I said certainly.

"…Can't hurt to try. Let's go ahead to the forest."

Mari stowed her wand away. The remaining bubbles floated off over the lake. Then we walked casually into the forest, hoping that no one was paying attention.

It got dark quickly after that and we were unable to continue practicing the bubbles. Then, in a fit of genius, Mari lit the tip of her wand and created several large, luminescent bubbles.

"Awesome," I said in awe.

She just grinned.

"We should have made a pile for the fire already," I said, glancing at my book by the light of the luminescent bubble, "We should have before it got dark."

"It's okay. There's a lot of dry wood around the clearing and pine straw," Mari assured me.

The glowing bubbles followed us around the clearing as we gathered material for the fire. After about 30 minutes we had a huge pile.

"would you like me to light it?" Mari offered.

"No, I want to do it. But we can't light it until almost midnight, according to the book."

We talked for a while, then sat in silence until it was nearing midnight. The little sliver of a moon was high in the sky, hardly casting any light at all. I approached our pile with my wand.

"Incendio," I said. A small flame appeared. We watched in silence as the flame grew and consumed the pile.

When the fire was at its full potential, I stripped down, tossed my clothes into the forest, and began to dance around the fire, grinning like a fool. Mari just watched, amused.

"Come on, Mari. You know you want to," I taunted her.

"I don't think so," she replied.

"Oh come on," I whined.

Finally she gave in and started to take off her shirt.

"What have we here?" said a voice in the trees. Mari let out a shriek and a second later the fire went out and threw a blanket of darkness over the clearing. I scrambled in the darkness to find my clothes but couldn't.

"Lumos," said a familiar voice that was not Mari's…it was Snape.

I ducked behind a tree as the clearing was flooded with light.

"I know you are there, Olivia," he said.

I couldn't tell if he was angry or not. I hoped not and stepped out from behind the tree, not really caring that I was completely naked.

Author's Note: Yes I'm afraid I'll have to leave it at that. Don't worry though- the next update should be soon. I finally finished Year 1- YAY!- unfortunately, it's all in notebook form. I have to transcribe it and I'm finding it harder to get time to sit at my computer at home. I've been at school and work like every freaking day. I love my job though. I starting writing for the local newspaper through my school's apprenticeship program. How awesome is that? I've had front page stuff. Best feeling ever. Anyways I see a prospective large chunk of time on my hands in the near future- I have to take the SATs this Saturday so I won't be taking pictures at the football game Friday night. I'm kind of sorry I will miss that (who would have thought I'd ever like anything to do with sports?). But after the SAT, which I'm not worried about (I'm taking it again by choice, the first score I got was enough for me to get into the college I want to go to), after the SAT I might sit at my computer and type the rest of my story.

~TheVampyre13