AN/-Severus: I am very disappointed in you dunderheads for not reviewing-five points from each of you!-NOW TURN TO PAGE 394 and then I would like a foot long essay as to why you liked this story-No excuses!

Thank you Severus-you're so-delightful.

Chapter 23

Remus pushed Audrey into the house but Tonks tripped on the troll leg umbrella stand once more as a violent scream filled the narrow and dimly lit hallway.

"Shit! Tonks," scolded Remus as Tonks looked at her feet sheepishly; someone came up the steps thunderously muttering under their breath.

"Bloody Hag! Shut the bloody hell up!" snarled the person as he dashed to the pull the lose curtains back over the screaming portrait of the old woman dressed in lavish jewels. Sirius managed to pull the curtains close after a lot of abuses and a little help from Remus.

"You seemed to have had a quite welcome eh?" Sirius asked Audrey, he beamed at her as she chuckled at him and shook her head.

"My mother seems to like welcoming the guest," he added sarcastically.

"Wow, I can see the resemblance," said Audrey grinning as Sirius glared at her and then barked out laughing giving her a small handshake and the pat on the back.

They led her to the kitchens in the basement as everyone had settled in, dinner almost over by now and they were hogging into their dessert of red gelatine.

"Well, hello!" said a red headed woman coming up to her as she wiped her hands clean on her honey coloured apron.

"Everyone—we have a new one here—introductions are in place I suppose come now, let's start with you Dung—this is Audrey Adams—Rachel's—niece," said the red head woman as Audrey smiled at her, she seemed to be quite warm and motherly.

"Mundungus Fletcher, I'm your trusty eye in the underbelly of the knockturnal," he said smiling as he puffed on a cigarette, the red headed woman walked up to him and pulled it out of his mouth snapping at him.

"You are not lighting that in this kitchen Dung," she said as Mundungus looked disheartened.

"Molly Weasley—you know Ronald and Ginny there—I'm their mum," said Mrs. Weasley as Ron and Ginny beamed up at Audrey, who the whole room seemed to be staring at, she felt awkward standing there as she was being gawked upon a room full of people, some she recognized some she didn't.

"Come on Severus!" said Mrs. Weasley egging the greasy haired man forward as he grunted disapprovingly. Audrey's head shot up from her red converse to look at the potions master, what was he doing here! Oh! Yeah he was a spy. Snape merely nodded as Audrey threw him an awkward smile.

"Oh! Poo, this is no fun—I'll do the introductions myself then," said Mrs. Weasley walking to each person she introduced with her plate of half eaten gelatine.

"This is Arthur—my husband—Kingsley Shackelbolt—he's an auror—Alastor Moody—the real one—you know Freddie and George, Ginny and Ron—Hermione and Harry—your aunt and your uncle to be and of course his other niece Patricia," smiled Mrs. Weasley as she then walked up to the people behind Audrey, but what the bloody hell was Patricia Bloody Phelps doing there, she is here to make your life hell, what else.

'Bloody Potty!' Audrey smirked to herself as she remembered the nickname for Patricia that the whole student body and Jupiter house had created for her because she had come out in her pants when the madam Maxine had scolded her for indiscipline in the first year. Merlin, she missed home already.

"Here we have Sirius and Remus and then there is Remus's partner Nymphadora Tonks," said Mrs. Weasley putting special emphasis on the word partner as Audrey laughed under her breadth while Remus rolled his eyes and closed them with a small sigh.

"Now—do sit down dear—serve yourself some gelatine," commented Mrs. Weasley as she asked Harry to scoot onto the empty seat between him and Patricia and Audrey sat down next to him.

"Hey—how was your flight?" he asked politely as Mrs. Weasley dropped a big spoon of jell-o into her plate and laughed as she welcomed in Dumbledore and McGonagall who came through the floo. Audrey noticed that Snape had now shifted to accommodate them; he now sat directly opposite her.

"Was alright I suppose—don't know why I couldn't use the bloody floo," she remarked rolling her eyes as Harry chuckled.

"At least they don't find you incompetent—I had a bloody guard come get me," he commented coldly as Audrey laughed softly. She noticed Mrs. Weasley looking at them quite intently as she smiled in a nostalgic way for some reason. Audrey also noted Hermione look at her happily as Ron began joking about his robes he had worn for the Yule ball. Harry and Audrey carried on their silent conversation.

"So—anything?" he asked her as she shook her head, her eyes roamed around the table, in the letters that they had exchanged in the course of the summer they had talked about anything that they seemed to find out of the ordinary, knowing that the daily prophet had not reported anything but it's delirious conclusions that found them to be mentally challenged along with Dumbledore who seemed to be made to look like he was wielding a stick at them ordering them about what to do next.

"You?" she asked as he too looked around the table, everyone had finally seemed to have gotten back to their business she noticed her mother move her leg up as Jean grinned wickedly, disgusting!

"I was attacked by dementors an hour ago," he commented casually as Audrey burst out laughing at his tone, he smiled at her as he fashioned a mock look of hurt.

"Some friend you are," he said accusingly as Audrey tried to control her laughter and reply.

"Well you're the bloody one who is acting like you were bloody bitten by an ant or something," she replied as she felt like someone was listening into their conversation, Mrs. Weasley was giggling as Mundungus spoke to her but Audrey knew she was listening to what she was talking to Harry about, she felt violated but she wouldn't voice it, the woman seemed to be too nice for Audrey's sharp tongue, she had started to like her already and she wasn't going to snap at her without reason, that would make her look cold and cruel, that was not what she wanted people at the table to think about her.

"Dementors—huh—so did you like kill them or something, cause Remus told me you've got yourself a hearing," she asked as Harry looked at her darkly.

"No, I used the patronus charm to save my blundering muggle cousin," he replied as he pushed the last spoon of jell-o into his mouth.

"Well at least—you still got your soul," she commented tartly as harry shook his head and laughed, he hadn't in the whole summer and he was pleased that the moment he looked at her the resentment against her not answering his letters to his satisfaction melted in a matter of minutes.

"What are you'll discussing?" asked a sugary voice besides Harry as he turned to look at Patricia, he did not really know the girl so he wasn't going to judge her but from what she was wearing he could tell that she was pureblooded, she didn't really have a good taste for muggle clothing as her fake Lacoste t-shirt had no symbol on it.

"Talking about hippogriffs—Patricia, care to comment?" asked Audrey politely, oh, how she hated her, that girl needed a good punching.

"Harry—are you interested in hippogriffs?—one of my aunts used to own one once," she commented excitedly as she began tormenting Harry with a lecture on hippogriffs, he looked at Audrey darkly as she had finally begun to eat her gelatine with a little smirk on her face.

"Go to hell!" he muttered silently to Audrey whose smirk grew wider.

Patricia Phelps, the Jupiter house outcast as her bloody uncle Jean Claude nicely docked points off their house but never off her, because she was his precious little Petty, his little flower, his little—whiny— little sl**bag! And Audrey was well aware of the fact that she was only talking to Harry because she liked him better than the other boys in the room, Audrey smiled as she tried to imagine Patricia throwing herself on Harry as he ran away from her, that would be some sight, but then Jean would come to save his little Petty—he loved her possibly more than his own sister loved her, some people said that she was actually his own daughter, but how could one tell when she had five aunts and three uncles all blood related, her family was huge and possibly the richest wizarding one in whole of wizarding France.

"Can I have your attention please?" asked Dumbledore clearing his throat as he looked around the table merrily as everyone looked at him.

"I'm glad that Ms. Adams and Mr. Potter could finally join us, but along with this I would also like to announce another bit of good news—," began Dumbledore as he looked around smiling as everyone seemed too eager to know more.

"Professor Snape will be staying with you'll at Grimmauld place for this summer," smiled Dumbledore as his eyes scanned now silent room, the only movement or sound that was heard came from the person sitting opposite Audrey. Snape moved his hand as he rubbed his temple harshly, trust Dumbledore to make this a big deal and you would not be disappointed.

"I don't see how the bloody hell living with Snivellus is going to be any good!" commented Sirius half the occupants looked down into their plates and sniggered openly, Fred and George giving out the loudest snorts.

"Excuse me," sneered Snape as he walked out of the room and into the backyard as the room burst in loud murmurs, the children did not seem very keen on having him there.

"Shit! Stupid Snape's going to ruin our whole summer," commented Harry.

"Yea—and I used to think he was chilling in his dungeons—that he was allergic to the summer fun," remarked George as Ginny laughed at her brother's comment.

"Yes—he's so dark and boring," commented Patricia as Ron looked at her.

"But you don't even know him," said Ron as Patricia smiled flakily at him; it appeared as if no one seemed to enjoy her voice very much.

"Really I think he's going to force us into slavery—making potions, doing homework—mum's going to be bloody pleased—she loves the bat," scoffed George as Fred nodded earnestly.

"Yes, that is so terrible," said Patricia nodding in approval as they stared at her like she was an oddball.

"Anyone up for a game of exploding snap?" asked Ginny trying to diffuse the disappointment as she looked at Hermione who picked up a book and showed her that she was going to be reading it.

"What about you Audrey, we are roommates—so I can totally boss over you now!" smiled Ginny as Audrey beamed at her.

"Really can you?" commented Audrey dryly as Ginny chuckled loudly.

"I suppose—do you guys want to play?" Audrey added and asked around as the boys agreed.

"Exploding Snap is such a violent game," commented Patricia tartly as Ginny threw her a glare.

"How's about I show you the house before that?" said Sirius loudly as Harry and Audrey agreed silently. They got up as Rachel smiled at her daughter, she would talk to her in the morning; possibly force her to get up early, she didn't have to worry about her much anymore, she knew Molly would make sure she stuffed food down Audrey's throat. She smiled as Jean's hand now rested on her leg which was draped over his. Everything was going to be great.

After the tour of the whole house, Sirius brought them back down and to the backyard where Snape was standing and smoking what looked like his fifth cigarette from the stubs near his feet.

The backyard was huge almost as big as the great hall, a pool stood on one side the soft manicured blades of grass around it made it look nice, the pool had what looked like lights.

"Do have electricity here?" asked Audrey as she looked at Sirius, he turned to her slightly excited.

"Yes—yes we have that here—my dad was all about his pure blood mania but in the end he kind of warmed up to muggle texiology," commented Sirius as Audrey looked at him oddly and Harry chuckled.

"You mean technology," commented Harry as Sirius smiled at him.

"You seem too smart Prongslet?" commented Sirius pulling Harry under his arm and ruffling his hair like he used to with James, as Harry's glasses almost fell off his nose.

"Seems like you didn't," commented Audrey as Sirius blew a raspberry at her making the two fourteen year olds laugh again.

It was almost midnight before everyone actually fell asleep as Mrs. Weasley had finally managed to clear out the twins from the girls' room and ordered everyone to bed. Rachel hadn't spoken to her daughter yet but the papers in front of her and Jean dozing besides her made it practically impossible for her to even move away from the dining table in the kitchen. She noticed Audrey herself walk into the kitchen wearing her loose red night t-shirt and sweat pants with cartoon snitches on them that moved around sometimes after every minute or two, they had been a gift from her grandfather and Audrey had wanted to wear them everywhere but she obviously didn't or rather couldn't.

She poured herself some water and cracked the ice tray as she dunked the ice into the glass of water and sipped it calmly; she sat down next to her mother who pushed the paper work away slightly.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked as Audrey shrugged.

"I'm not feeling sleepy," she said rubbing her eyes as she yawned and Rachel chuckled to herself.

"Why?" she asked as Audrey looked away.

"I miss home," she commented dryly as Rachel felt a little disheartened.

"Darling—this is home now—it's time you started adjusting," she said pushing Audrey's head up with the help of her manicured finger under her chin.

"No monster under your bed—I promise," said Rachel smirking as Audrey looked at her darkly and then smiled, she knew her mother kept teasing her about the episode when she was seven and thought the school bully Amelia Angelo had put a monster under a bed.

"Go to bed love—you'll fall asleep in no time," she added kissing the top of the girl's head as she smiled at her softly and nodded picking up the glass, Audrey existed the kitchen and walked up to her room and settled in for the night, her mother had been right, she did fall asleep in no time.

A two weeks into the fiasco and July was almost over, Harry's hearing came closer and closer and so did his birthday, what was odd was the hearing was actually on his birthday. On the 31st of July Harry woke up feeling terrible, his messy hair was all over the place, he picked up his glasses and went into the bathroom for a shower, he thought it was best that he looked presentable for the hearing, a cold shower later he tried his best to flatten his hair or possibly even comb it but it was useless every time he brushed it, it just sprung back up like a spring. He finally gave up and strolled down into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was enjoying a cup of tea with Sirius, her husband and Remus.

"Harry!" called Sirius happily from the door as he pulled the boy inside the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley poured him a cup of tea as well.

"Well—if it isn't the birthday boy," commented Sirius smiling, his arm was still on his godsons shoulder, Harry snorted lightly, perfect way to celebrate it.

"Yea, and the ministry already gave me a big gift," scoffed Harry as Sirius looked at him with a pitiful smile.

"Maybe you should flatten your hair a bit dear," said Mrs. Weasley as she tried to push his hair down a few times but she failed just like he had, Harry sighed as someone else entered the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday Harry," smiled Hermione as she hugged him and pushed a box into his hand, he looked at the person who had come in with Hermione as he smiled at Audrey, Mrs. Weasley poured them a boiling hot cup of tea as well they accepted it thankfully.

"Here—you might find it useful," said Audrey opening a green tube and pressing the contents out into his hand.

"What is that?" he asked slightly confused.

"Hair gel," she replied as Harry looked at her oddly, why the bloody hell did she had hair gel.

"Why do you have hair gel?" he asked as she shrugged slightly.

"Why do you care?" she asked back as he smiled at her crookedly.

"Also this is for you," she said pushing a neatly covered gift into his hand and smiling as he opened it to bring out a book on the Irish quidditch team, he grinned this was why they had started talking in the first place.

"Thanks," he said softly as he began unwrapping Hermione's gift, the hair gel doing wonders for him. Hermione had given his a black leather bound diary.

"Now you can organize and keep a track of your homework, Audrey helped me jinx it, so every time we get homework it will automatically turn red and the subject under which you got homework will have it written down and ready for you to complete," finished Hermione excitedly as Harry smiled at her thankfully, he didn't want her to feel bad although he knew this was going to be possibly the most useful gift he would be getting this birthday, he still liked Audrey's gift.

"Don't worry you'll get a party in the evening," smiled Sirius as Mr. Weasley put on his coat, they would be leaving in a bit.

"Yea, if I am not chucked into Azkaban," said Harry as Hermione rolled her eyes and began talking about some rules and laws.

"Don't worry—even if you are we'll write to you," said Audrey laughing as Sirius looked at her darkly and so did Harry but then they burst out laughing and she walked him to the door.

"Don't worry, you'll do great," she said as Mr. Weasley stood outside waiting for Harry, she gave him a small peck on the cheek as Harry blushed sharply and gulped.

"For luck," she said stepping away and smiling as he gave her a small smile and walked out of the door and then away with Mr. Weasley. She smiled inwardly at herself as if knowledge of something pleased her. After all, she had read too many muggle novels to know Harry potter was stealing her heart.

Audrey spent most of her morning in the library going through old books that came out with either tiny pixies or clouds of dust stuck to them. She was not pleased when one pixy almost bit her finger, but nevertheless she seemed to enjoy the company of books and even Hermione was with her, she was pleased to know she was a silent reader and did not bother her much. Morning grew into afternoon and Mrs. Weasley called them for lunch, Audrey asked Hermione to go on without her, she wasn't feeling hungry and although Hermione displayed her concerns about Audrey's eating habits she did not press it any further. So Audrey was now alone in the library reading up a charms book in hope that she could better herself in the subject.

"Oi! Lunch in severed—do you need an invitation like Snivellus?" Sirius called entering the library and shutting the book Audrey was reading.

"I'm not hungry," she commented dryly as Remus walked into the room.

"You haven't eaten anything since last night's dessert," commented Remus sharply as Audrey looked at him and spoke.

"I'm not hungry—I feel full besides you know I have absolutely no appetite,"

"Well—you still got to eat something," said Sirius as he heard someone below, Harry was back. Sirius looked at Remus who nodded and motioned for Sirius to leave.

"You've got to eat—you're getting thinner and thinner and I am afraid you might just disappear," he said softly resting his hand on her head.

"No, you're not—not that daft to think so—that's completely illogical," she scoffed as Remus looked at her sternly.

"Lunch Drey, now!" he ordered as Audrey made a face at him and sighed, she got up and walked down to lunch with Remus following her. She was pleased to see Harry was back, but Patricia was sitting next to him already as she busied him in some conversation.

Audrey settled down in the chair next to Snape who looked at the potatoes in his plate like they were the most boring items in the world. Remus sat on the other side piling her plate with potatoes and chicken.

"Rem! I can't possibly eat so much!" she scolded him as he looked at her plate and then at her.

"I am sure you can—dear—this is nothing," said Mrs. Weasley worriedly as she filled her glass with cold milk.

"You better finish all this—it's not polite to waste according to British culture," smirked Remus.

"B**ls to you and your dumb ass culture," muttered Audrey under her breath thankfully Remus sidelined it but threw her a warning.

"What was that?" he asked sternly as Audrey rolled her eyes and unceremoniously pushed a spoon full of potatoes into her mouth as Remus smiled contently. Half an hour into lunch and Audrey still had half her plate to finish, she looked at Ron taking his third serving, she wished he could finish this for her.

Audrey's hand brushed against her wand slightly as she smiled to herself, impolite to waste food huh? She'd show him. She pulled out her wand under the table and looked at Remus, he seemed to be busy chatting with Sirius on his left, Audrey muttered under her breath.

"Evanesco," the food disappeared into air as there was nothing on her plate anymore.

"Gemino," she muttered pointing at Remus's full plate as the food on his plate doubled, she wanted to laugh so badly, but she had to get out of there before he'd catch her.

"Done," she said wiping her face with the napkin as Remus turned to look at her, she smiled at him and then quickly made her way out of the room as Remus turned to his own plate as his smiled dropped, he had underestimated her so badly, now he had to finish double the amount of food on his plate.

On her way out he could hear Audrey talking to Tonks about whether she'd like to raise wolf cubs, he then decided not to force feed his fourteen year old god daughter ever again, no wonder her mother didn't.

Audrey spent the rest of her afternoon locked once again in the library as she tried to complete the charms book that she was reading, when it got dark was when she realised that it was already evening. She checked the watch her mother had given her that summer since her previous one had broken down finally, it was almost seven fifteen, she made her way down to the living room, she hoped she hadn't missed the beginning of Harry's party, but she had and now they were cutting the cake in the living room without her, so she thought it better to take a walk outside in the backyard as she removed her slippers and dunked in feet into the cool pool water, none of the kids had used the pool yet, she wondered why but she decided to ask Ginny if she'd want to go swimming tomorrow morning.

Audrey felt quite left out sitting there all alone, but she didn't mind, she liked that she got her space and that people left her alone, but in the dark of the approaching night as the summer breeze blew the blushes softly she wondered if anyone even remembered that she still existed in the house.

"What are you doing here Adams?" someone called from behind her, she recognized his voice, it was Snape, he was wearing muggle clothes, a white shirt and faded black jeans along with a black waist coat that must have been the inside of his robes which were not there anymore.

"Nothing," she said as he sat down besides her rolled up his pants and pushed his feet into the water as well, he noticed she had a rather large scar on her right leg.

"How'd you get that?" he asked pointing at her scar as she looked at it and remembered, she laughed loudly at the memory.

"I got it when I was seven, the school bully tripped me into the bushes," she said as he looked at her oddly.

"That was when I realised that children were capable of doing wandless magic," she said.

"What happened?" he asked curiously.

"Well—she sprouted feathers and started clucking," she said thoughtfully.

"Really? A chicken?" he asked dryly as she looked at him snarkly.

"Hey, I was seven not seventeen—besides I was the one chucked out of school not her—bloody convent thought I was a freak of sorts—they used to call me Little Miss Freaky—I didn't have many friends growing up," she sighed shaking her head darkly but her mood changed when she spoke again.

"I saw her recently though—she looks a lot like a chicken—I wonder if it was because of that—I mean I do hail from a family of psychotic transfigurers," she looked at him quizzically as he burst out laughing, her eyes twinkled like Dumbledore's did.

Severus found it odd himself but he could not hold this outburst as she giggled as well possibly because this was the first time she heard him laugh, he did not know why but he felt like she was possibly the only one who didn't judge him as much as the others.

"You remind me too much of your aunt," he blurted out as Audrey looked at him curiously; he quickly turned away and looked at the water that was numbing his legs. He was still chuckling.

Rachel noticed that her daughter was not in the living room, Hermione and Harry pointed it out to her and she assured them that she would look for her and get her there. Rachel scanned the library but there was no one there, then she walked into the kitchen but that too was empty, she noticed the back door ajar and went to shut it when she heard voices talking, she peeked through the door to see who it was, she saw her daughter talking to him. She was telling him some story about her first pre-school as he laughed loudly.

She couldn't believe it, Severus Snape was laughing, it had always been extremely hard to make that man laugh, even when he had been younger and possibly less burdened with matters that he somehow got mixed into against his will. Rachel's heart filled up at the scene, they looked so much like a happy father-daughter couple, Rachel wondered what would happen if they found out the truth, if Severus would except her, or turn his own daughter away. He was selfish to the core after all, he was not a very pleasant man, but his laughing and rolling up his jeans to dip his feet into the water, what was that about? For a minute Rachel felt like she knew the man, it was as if she was looking at the figure of a 19 year old Snape sitting with her and laughing about some really ridiculous thing she had just said. Rachel closed her eyes as she noticed two tears trace their way along her face and fall to the ground silently. She sighed as she waited for Severus to leave, but he seemed to be enjoying Audrey's company as they now spoke about something.

"Why aren't you inside?" he asked Audrey as she looked at him and pushed her head a little to the side as she moved her legs in the water.

"I don't know—I guess I didn't want to barge in like that—I mean I was late so I decided to wait till dinner," she said honestly.

"I suppose you're not hungry again," he said as she looked at him as if pleading not to tell Remus, she knew he knew the truth somehow.

"Lupin didn't manage to finish his potatoes this afternoon," he said as if snitching to her and she laughed, he smirked breathing deeply.

"Thanks for not telling him, I doubled his food," she said looking at him timidly as he turned to look at her face, for the first time he noticed her nose, it was just like Rachel's was.

"Well—the next time you decide to administer any punishments to your godfather might I suggest non-verbals," he commented as she rolled her eyes.

"Very good suggestion—only problem is if my aunt finds out I am practicing any spells over the vacation, she will cut me into pieces, put me in an ice box and sell it to the Chinese or something," she commented.

"The Chinese are not cannibals, silly girl," commented Severus dryly.

"Like you'd know," she said crossing her arms across her chest and challenging his knowledge as he chuckled and pulled his feet out of the water, he had to get back to the Wolfsbane he had kept to cool.

"I think you should go inside you're aunt is waiting for you," said Snape looking at the back door as Audrey turned to look where he was, she noticed someone hide behind the door as soon as her eyes fell on it.

"Must be supervising again," she sneered loudly as Snape snorted to himself and then made his way inside with the girl, it was time for dinner.

Rachel made her way quickly to the living room and hurriedly sat down next to Remus as he looked at her oddly.

"What did you do?" he asked her interestedly.

"Nothing Remus—why must it be anything?" she commented.

"Because—you don't generally run like you are on fire unless you messed up or got caught," he replied.

"Oh just shut up you stupid git," she scoffed as she rested her head on his shoulder as Remus shook his head, she seemed happy but had come running from somewhere like a house-elf from clothes, he let it go, at least she was happy and then he heard Audrey laugh on the staircase as he heard Snape's voice next to her. Remus smiled to himself, it was only time—only time.

AN/- hope you liked it-and I would listen to Snape if I were you-I hear he's ina foul mood and is handing out detentions.

Severus: I heard that-my office NOW!