AN/- hey everyone-I am so sorry for the long wait i had those wretched exams-so i couldn't update-but here's a chapter for you to enjoy-do leave a review.

Chapter 16

It had been two weeks since the Yule ball had been over and done with, students had finally returned to their daily schedules of mundane school life once again. Spring had also dawned earlier on Hogwarts as the snow formed over the grounds and the beautiful black lake had finally started to melt. The oddest bit was that as soon as the ice had melted, Victor Krum had began swimming, he would spend an awful lot on time underwater, no one knew the reason for this form of exercise and they put it aside thinking it as some sort of odd quidditch training technique, though the girls were not complaining as long as they got to see Viktor half naked they didn't care if he was rolling in mud. Harry had finally got Ron to apologise to Hermione who had reluctantly but come in friendlier terms with Ron.

Audrey walked down on that Saturday to the great hall; the whole hall was full as everyone was excited to be going on their first Hogsmeade weekend of their second term and so an early breakfast was in order after which lunch would follow in Honeydukes or the three broomsticks or that new cafe` that had opened on Rodric street in the village named after two of the Hogwarts founders. Audrey searched for place to sit at the table but found none her stomach growled in anticipation. She strained her neck to look for an empty seat and finally decided to squeeze in between Fred and George who were sitting too comfortably according to her.

"Hello," she said as she pushed Fred into George and sat down next to him, the brothers looked at her a little terrified, they were still stuck on their theory of Audrey being Snape's daughter.

"Are you alright?" Audrey asked as she picked up a hash brown and thrust it into her mouth.

The only reply she received from them was a curt nod and so she decided to let it be, they were odd anyways and truth was she didn't really care whether or not they were lying to her, she knew they were thinking of some absurd thing and relating it to her and even if her curiosity peaked she did not care to prod further into the matter.

"So did you figure the clue out yet?" asked George buttering his toast and licked the marmalade off his knife.

"No, the mysterious screeching egg, refuses to reveal anything—it's bloody impossible," she said picking up a French fry flinging it around and then putting it in her mouth, George looked at her sceptically as Fred turned to look at him and he nodded slowly.

"Well—you are our friend so we could suggest the same thing we did to Harry," they began softly as Audrey paid closer attention motioning them to forward the conversation.

"Harry obviously thinks we're mental-but try breaking the thing apart—if you know the bases of the egg you'll know what it is," said Fred.

"At least—we'd do that if it were us in your place," said George as he and his brother winked at her and walked out of the hall.

Audrey didn't really know if Fred and George were right, but she decided that it was definitely worth a try, but she'd need special tools to break the egg apart, she wished it could just use the reducto on the bloody thing,but only Audrey knew how hard it had been to earn it and she wasn't going to let the prize of her near death experience go to waste with a reducto. She wondered if Hagrid would have the tools for such a task, but she sidelined this, she didn't need heavy tools, but tools that were used for more delicate objects, she knew one person in the castle who had a passion for collecting these delicate objects and so Audrey jogged to the common room, picked up her egg and asked for directions and jogged up to her great uncle's office, but when she did reach it she stood in front of the stone gargoyle that refused to let her in without a password and so she stood outside as an idea struck her.

"Fawkes—jellybeans—sherbet lemons—Rachel—Audrey—Minerva—Gryffindor—tabby—magic—chocolate frogs—mint worms—pepper chews—cockroach cluster-" she narrated quickly but the gargoyle smirked at her and stood still.

"Bloody hell, you stupid thing—just move already," she shouted as the gargoyle did not respond.

"Stupid git!" she muttered under her breadth exasperatedly and put in her hands in her pockets pulling out a crackling wrapper that had once belonged to the chocolate she had eaten a few days ago and had almost lost her finger to it.

"Biting Nutties," she read the name on the wrapper softly as the gargoyle sprung to life and moved to make way for a spiral staircase that moved upwards. Audrey got on to it and stood on the steps till they came to a stop in front of the door that led to Albus Dumbledore's office. She knocked twice as a short "enter" made her open the door. She didn't enter completely but pushed her head through the crack that she had made by opening the door.

"Uncle Al?" she asked quizzically looking around as she heard her uncle talk to someone who was sitting with him

"Come on inside love," he told her as she shut the door behind her, the egg shining in her hand, she saw all the head of the houses sitting around his table, they all turned to look at her as she smiled faintly and looked down embarrassedly, she wished she had addressed him as professor Dumbledore.

"I'll be with you in a minute—sit down," he said jovially as he conjured a maroon cushioned arm chair for her, she sat down embarrassedly.

"What are we going to do about Hagrid?" announced Professor Sprout a little worriedly, as Audrey kept looking at her egg but eavesdropped on their conversation.

"What do mean?" sneered Snape as Minerva looked at professor Sprout in confusion.

"Well—Hagrid hasn't come out of his hut since the Yule ball," said professor Sprout as Dumbledore nodded gravely and suggested something Audrey couldn't hear.

"I suppose we can discuss the other matters with the rest of the staff—Minerva will let you'll know about the next staff meeting—I suppose you'd like to get to Hogsmeade—unlike you'll Ms. Adams and I unfortunately cannot visit it—it is very beautiful as this time of the year—I have heard Honeydukes has started a new range of candy," smiled Albus as professor Flitwick chuckled and Minerva shook her head dismally.

"Why can you not visit it Ms. Adams?" asked Professor Sprout curiously turning her attention to the girl as she raised her head.

"Because my aunt—well—I was grounded—because of my inappropriate behaviour, codswallops," she said muttering the end.

"And—Mr. Potter has not shown you around the village under the invisibility cloak?" asked Flitwick chuckling surprised.

"I'd rather not-!" she said quickly.

"How come?" asked Flitwick slightly amused.

"Well my aunt's punishments are not very pleasant—" she said slowly flinching slightly at the recall as Flitwick looked at her pitifully smiling at her as he revealed a secret.

"I hear, Mr. Claude complain about your skills in charms being terribly low," said Flitwick as Audrey blushed, her hands curling into fist that begged for her to punch Jean.

"But—I suppose it's not your fault—you're aunt was never very gifted in charms, nor is Minerva for that matter," said Flitwick brought a smile on Audrey's face and then walked away with the rest of the teachers.

She looked at Albus as she approached his table slowly, as he beamed at her his blue eyes twinkling, sometimes, she wished she had them.

"What can I do for you love?" he asked as he sipped the final contents of his cup of tea.

"I was wondering if I could borrow some of your tools—I wanted to split the egg apart and study it closer," she said looking at him reproachfully as he looked at her in wonderment.

"Do you think that it will help to figure your way through to the clue?" he asked her as she nodded in reply. Albus pulled open one of his desk drawers and slowly pulled out a black wooden box. Albus had always had a fascination for magical objects having made some himself, he found it very handy to have a tool box ready very useful.

He pushed the box towards her and asked her to sit at the small oval desk near the blue sofa in the other half of his office.

"Tell me if you need anything," smiled Albus as Audrey nodded opening the box.

The box had several partitions for the tools, screw drivers and the variety of fat and thin screwers, paint brushes, metal nails, washers, bolts and several other tools that were unheard to her. Thankfully, all she had to do was open the egg, silence it and then unbolt it with the set of screw drivers. She began her work, all of her afternoon and evening was spent in the process of reaching the core of the egg, that was sealed in a glass cases, it looked a lot like what the muggles called a lava lamp, she wondered if the golden liquid in the case was actually liquid gold or just golden coloured water, she picked up the glass case and looked for an opening through which she could open the case, but it was sealed for all directions. Audrey sighed, hours wasted over a suggestion made by two complete nutters, she yawned and placed all the tools back into their respective partitions and pulled her wand out of her robe pocket and repaired the egg with a simple 'repairo', she looked at her great uncle, he had been in the office all day long, she had lunch and dinner with him, she wondered if he would even go to bed with the amount of paperwork on his desk and she highly doubted that, but then again she was sure her great aunt come collect him soon, she cared too much about him and she was aware about the work pressure killing him softly.

She bid him goodnight and she certainly hoped he would finish work soon, what she did not know was that it was way beyond curfew that she was roaming around the school and that her great uncle had forgotten to write her a permission slip and so Audrey walked slowly towards the Gryffindor common rooms, losing her way and ending up near the great hall, she suddenly realised that she absolutely did not know how to get to the common room, truth was she didn't know how to get anywhere from the great hall and those bloody staircases confused her like mortal peril, why would any architect in his or her right mind make moving staircases?

Audrey felt helpless, if she was caught she was definitely going to get detention for being out so late and if she wasn't caught she would have to spend the whole night here and she absolutely did not want to spend the night in the deserted corridor near the great hall, they say it was haunted by more than just the friendly ghost but spirits—bad spirits. She looked at the sky that was clearly visible through the opening in the entrance hall, the night bore a full moon as she thought of her godfather, where he could be and what would he being doing—most importantly whether he was safe?

She walked back into the school, she was surprised that she wasn't caught yet, she checked her watch, it was almost midnight by now, it was obvious that patrol duties were over and if there was no sound there would no one to come check. So she climbed up the staircase which moved towards the dungeons, she slumped, what was she supposed to do in the dungeons? There was no one to help her there or was there? She ran to the dungeons, praying and hoping he would not have retired for the night.

She reached the door and stood in front of it, she felt odd to knock on his door, what if he did not consider this nightly visit very pleasant, after all he was the most feared professor in the school.

S.T. Snape was inscribed on the golden plate on his door as it gleamed in the candlelight of the otherwise dark and silent dungeons. She drew in her breadth and knocked, but she did not receive a reply, half her mind asked her to leave and look around the castle for some sort of help from the ghosts or something, but the other half of her head forced her to knock again, once again she did not receive a reply and just as she turned to leave she heard scuffling inside along with the rustling of papers as she heard footsteps walking towards the door from the other side.

Audrey straightened up as she waited for him to answer the door and when he did her eyes went wide and gulped, he seemed disturbed as he held his wand in his hand, his reading glasses on his nose making it look larger than it was.

"Ms. Adams?" he questioned lowering his wand and taking off his glasses and pocketing them into his sweat shirt. Audrey blushed, he was wearing a Slytherine sweat shirt and jeans, it was obvious that he had not been anticipating company.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" he asked angrily as she jumped on the spot and spoke softly almost in a whisper but he could hear her clearly.

"I lost my way—and the staircases kept moving around and I reached the dungeons—I didn't know where else to go,"

"Most importantly Ms. Adams what are you doing out of bed after curfew—at—midnight!" he asked not satisfied with her answer as she dig her navy blue sneakers into the stone floor.

"I was with Professor Dumbledore—in his office—trying to solve the egg and I lost track of time," she replied with the truth, he looked at her sceptically.

"Come inside," said Severus as he let the girl inside his office. Audrey looked around the office, it was a lot like her mother's, except it was decorated differently and there was no view outside the window as such except the view of the grounds and the whomping willow.

"Sit," he ordered and she sat down on one of the arm chairs opposite his desk.

She noticed Snape throw some floo powder into the fireplace and shout the address sharply as a head popped into the grate.

"Albus—was she in your office?" Snape asked Dumbledore's head which seemed to look odd in the fireplace.

"Yes—I forgot to write her a note—I apologise Audrey," said Albus as Audrey nodded but Snape wasn't pleased.

"Why the bloody hell is she in the dungeons?" snapped Snape as Dumbledore cocked his head to the side.

"I got lost," repeated Audrey sheepishly as Albus chuckled and Snape rolled his eyes.

"Jean is patrolling the two floor corridor—it would be good if you could escort her to him—he'll take her to the common room," said Albus suggesting as Snape nodded and closed the connection.

"Come on," he snapped as Audrey looked away from the frame on the desk, it held a muggle picture of a young Snape and his parents. She got up without a word and followed him out of the office; he shut the door behind them and waved his wand over the door locking it with wards so that no one could enter his office in his absence.

He began walking towards the corridor, up the stairs and out into the corridor that opened out into the entrance hall near the great hall, in the beginning Audrey found it hard to keep up with his long strides but as she walked she began to keep up her pace with him easily registering his speed and matching it with hers, after all she was quite tall for her age and what was the use of her long legs if she didn't take large steps.

Snape looked at her as he noticed her walking besides him, her golden egg shut in her hand as she had carefully tucked under her arm, to be truthful Severus seemed to be impressed by the girl, she had proven herself very well and no one had ever been able to walk by his side or match up to his pace. She was different, not like the dunderheads he came across day in and out, she wasn't a know-it-all but she did know-a-lot, something about her made him awkward and yet he was pleased to know her and even though she was friends with Potter who seemed to be crushing on her, he did not mind her company, she was tolerable which was good thing at her age atleast when one was fourteen and conversing with Severus. Although, he found several thing off about her, she reminded him about his younger self, though she was popular and Gryffindor like and brought up by people he disliked, she had a lot about her that was appealing to his taste and even though Rachel had strictly warned him to stay away from her he refused to abide by her rules, something about the girl drew his curiosity and so whatever he did, he ended up looking out for her and like Audrey had put it—he hardly knew anything about her and yet he felt a knowing urge to help her through whatever she was facing.

They were reaching the second floor corridor where Jean was waiting to collect the girl, Severus instinctively jumped the trick step that the staircase held but unknown to Audrey's knowledge she did not skip it and her leg fell through the staircase and bruised it very badly, her egg clicked open and fell out of her hand and screeched its core out and went tumbling down to the end of the staircase and out into the grounds which were still covered with a light sheet of the melting snow. Severus turned around and looked at her, while all her attention as devoted to the egg outside possibly screeching the whole school awake. Snape walked up to help her but she yanked her leg out which was now bleeding through the bruises and ran down the staircases and out of the entrance hall into the grounds Snape followed as Jean who was waiting at the staircase followed him as well.

She ran into the grounds but could not hear the egg screeching, she wondered if someone had picked it up, but she saw it gleam in the moonlight, it was still open in the snow but it wasn't screeching, she ran to it and picked it up shocked with this sudden change but as soon as the egg left the ground, it screeched its violent best, Audrey almost threw it back to the ground but she quickly closed it and noticed a very pissed off Jean behind her, he had run into the grounds while Snape had preferred to walk reaching only a few seconds after the Frenchman.

"Adams!—you will not run out like that—this bloody school has such pathetic rules-," muttered Jean yanking Audrey's arm into his hand as he pulled it rashly, Severus did not like how this was going, he did not like Jean's hold on the girl, it reminded him of his terrible past.

Severus looked at the girl, she looked terrified, she was hurt and possibly cold, but obviously this obnoxious man did not see the obvious, he preferred to scold her for no fault of hers.

"Get inside now!" he said pushing her back as Audrey almost fell to the ground, he leg now cramping because of the snow. Jean hit the back of her head and then slapped it harshly as Audrey could not move, her feet were jammed.

"Move Adams!—there are werewolves out here—you don't want Lupin to bit you do you?" snarled Jean scared for his own life than hers. Severus noticed the girl clench her jaw tightly, quite like Rachel did, but if Jean touched the girl again he would not stand quietly.

"I can't my foot's cramped," said Audrey painfully as she looked sympathetically at Snape, he looked into her eyes they seemed so familiar- he broke away from her.

" Well—than you shouldn't have run huh?—smarty pants—come on your precious godfather isn't going to come save your skin here," snarled Jean as Audrey shifted her weight from one foot to the other and limped her way back into the entrance hall with great difficulty as Jean and Snape followed.

Jean completely ignored Snape's existence in the whole ordeal, when they entered the entrance hall Jean turned coolly towards Snape whose eyes were fixed on the girl's leg. Jean waited for the potions master to look at him and when he did look at him, he saw the worry in the man's eyes and then it was gone as he looked back at him coldly.

Severus could feel the feeling of superiority that Jean was emitting, he thought he was better than the man in front of him all his vibes were negative and cold, he was exactly a pureblood should be like, like Malfoy treated the others, disrespectful, stubborn, hostile and snobbish.

"You can clear off Snape—I can take this miscreant away," smirked Jean.

"She's hurt Claude—it would be better to fix her first," sneered Severus walking towards the girl as Jean rest his hand on Snape's chest as if daring him to go forward.

"We—at Beauxbatons have a simple rule Severus—the unruly ones will learn on their own they do not deserve help or pity," said Jean as Severus narrowed his eyes.

"Well—Claude I do not care what rule you may have—but may I remind to that this is not Beauxbatons, this is Hogwarts—your rules do not apply," sneered Severus in reply as Jean looked at him loathingly but Severus glared back at him with his famous glare that he saved only for Black and Potter, he took a step towards Audrey as she looked at the two men arguing.

"Look Snape-I don't like you very much and I am certain you already know that—so why don't you just go back to brood in the dungeons where you belong—I'll take Adams here to her aunt—who wants to have a word with her," said Jean smirking, his smirk would give Gilderoy Lockheart a run for his money. Severus reached for his wand but it seemed like Jean was faster as a stunner came his way, Jean pushed Audrey put of the way as Snape dodged the spell and pulled out his wand shooting a non verbal stunner at the man.

Jean laughed menacingly as he deflated the stunner in no time, shouting a levicorpus at the man, something that Sirius had shown him the other day, Sirius had said nothing could stop that spell but obviously he wasn't going to be playing a ten year olds game, he mixed an incendio with the levicorpus and as the flames went rushing to Severus he smirked cruelly. Severus was not in the mood and the despicable man used his own spell against him, he wanted it to end, he did not see the point of duelling with this man and if Rachel caught them fighting he would not be pleased when she would swoop his opponent into her arms and soothe him.

He deflated the magic that came towards him but his legs suddenly felt loose and he knew Jean had thrown of a no verbal jelly-legs jinx, Severus could not stand on his feet any longer and he knew how this was going to end he was going to be stunned and worst of all in front of the student he wanted to set an example for.

Jean walked towards him but a sharp pain in his hand and his wand flew away from him as Audrey jumped in the air to catch it. The jinx subsided as Severus heard the clicking of heels towards them, he knew who it was, it had to Rachel because she wouldn't have gone to bed without Jean in the room, he knew her—she was afraid of the dark to sleep alone in the room.

Jean hadn't heard the clicking of heels or noticed Snape's jinx break or that the man was now standing, all of Jean's attention was now on Audrey who gulped and took a step back, he was staring at her violently, he raised his hand to slap her.

"How dare—you—little swine—bloodless piece of shit touch my wand!" Jean said almost slamming his hand into her face as the clicking of heels grew louder Severus did not know whether to react or not, whether to save the girl or watch Rachel smother the man with love that he did not deserve.

"Don't touch her!—Corpus Crepitus," shouted Severus his spell hitting Jean before he could touch the girl. Jean went stiff as the spell hit him and suddenly he pushed Audrey aside and started to bang his body against the wall, Severus straightened himself as the clicking of heels finally revealed its master and as to Severus's expectations Rachel looked horrified as her fiancée hit himself against the wall in continuous action while her daughter stood there her mouth open flashing a grin with Jean's wand in her hand.

"Corpus Amplius," she said waving her wand as Jean stopped hitting himself into the wall and sat down as one side of his body felt completely numb.

"Jean—are you alright—Audrey why do you have his wand?" she asked sternly Severus hoped that she would tell her, any minute and Rachel would realize that Jean was actually a tosspot. But the girl just stood there looking terrible, not a word fell from her mouth as Audrey handed Rachel the wand, so Severus decided to step in.

"What did you do?" shouted Rachel accusingly as she knelt down next to Jean who seemed to be almost unconscious, but before Severus could say anything the girl spoke.

"I did it—I cursed him—it wasn't him—I'm sorry—I shouldn't have," said Audrey loudly as Severus looked at her.

"You did this? Why?" asked Rachel sternly.

"He was being a prick," she replied muttering as Rachel looked at her angrily.

"I am sorry," Rachel said turning to Snape as she rubbed her neck, a sign of embarrassment.

"Come on," she said angrily to her as she helped Jean up but he was too heavy for her to pull Audrey as well as Jean and she knew Audrey wouldn't help her.

"I'll escort her to the tower—why don't you take him to the infirmary," said Severus softly as Rachel slumped and nodded, a final glare and "I'll talk to you in the morning" later she was gone, her heels and everything.

Audrey flushed as he looked at her oddly, pitifully.

"I don't need your pity," she muttered as she walked in front not really knowing where she was going when he pulled her t-shirt and steered her towards the other staircase that moved away as they waited for it to come back.

"Does this happen a lot, Ms. Adams?" asked Severus in all seriousness as Audrey stared at the ground.

"It's none of your business, is it?" she sneered at him, her eyes full of tears as she forced them to dissolve away by continuous blinking.

"Why have you not taken this up with your aunt?" he asked, he knew she would break easily, he just had to know.

"Because—she's happy—she loves him—he loves her back—that's all there is—it's simple—she wouldn't believe me—she never believes me," said Audrey disappointedly as Severus looked at her.

"Has this happened before?" he asked.

"Jean and I are constantly calling each other things, he beats me if lightly for fun, I don't like him so I am never alone with him," she replied looking at her leg which was still bruised. Severus's eyes went to her foot as he waved his wand and the bruise was gone.

"Thank you," she muttered, he knew what she was thanking him for.

"Does Lupin know?" he asked curiously as Audrey sighed and shook her head.

"Remus has his own problems—I see him once a year for mostly a day—I wouldn't want to talk to Remus about Jean when I hardly get to see him," she replied thinking of her godfather as Severus's face held a very disturbed look but she was very defensive about her godfather.

"No, you don't understand—Remus is the closest thing I have to a father—he loves me maybe more than my aunt—it's not his fault-," she began but Severus nodded in understanding.

"You must have been very close you your father—you look very much like him," said Audrey smiling at him as Severus stiffened.

"Did I offend you sir?" asked Severus as he looked at her.

"My father did not appreciate magic Ms. Adams—it's best that you don't have someone like that living with you," he said sharply as Audrey replied.

"My dad was magical—Remus confirmed it—my mu—aunt doesn't know I know though," she said correcting herself.

"I could talk to your aunt for you if you wish, clear you name of all records?" he said as they finally reached the fat lady's portrait.

"No, besides she wouldn't believe you—she'd think your just trying to save my skin—good spell though—did you make it?" asked Audrey as he nodded a small smile on his lips, she returned it.

"Maybe I can tell you about my spells sometime," she said grinning.

"Goodnight Ms. Adams," said Snape as she reciprocated in the same way and went through the open portrait hole, he waited till the portrait shut and then he decided to walk down the corridor to his chambers, he was tired already.

AN/- thanks for reading and i hope you'll review-the next task is approaching help Audrey out with some more feedback!