Chapter two: Angel

She was floating, somewhere warm and light, and someone else was there. The woman was pretty with long red hair and green eyes, wide with fear. She was screaming something, but there was no sound. There was a flash of green light, two flashes and a sharp pain, and she was bathed in darkness again.

*DPDPDPDPDP*

Dove jerked into an upright position, gasping for air and in pain. She'd had this dream before, and every time it ended the same way. It took Dove a few moments before she realized she wasn't on her cot, but instead on an extremely comfortable bed in a room of a dozen other identical beds. The memories from the day before flooded her and made her head hurt with the light coming from the windows.

"How do you feel?" A deep voice to her left asked gently. She jumped and looked over to the man beside the bed. It was the one who stopped Uncle Vernon. He had greasy shoulder length black hair, sallow skin, a lanky build, and in the too bright light and his billowing robes he looked like an angel. Dove stared at him in fascination and awe. He cleared his throat and she looked away. Freaks didn't look at people directly, their betters. "I asked you a question, Dove."

"How do you know my name?" She asked before flinching. Freaks didn't ask questions either. Her angel did not hit her, but instead sat on the edge of her bed.

"Let's do a tradeoff." He said. "I'll answer your question if you answer mine. Does that sound fair?"

It did sound fair, fairer than anyone had ever been to her before, but she wasn't positive she should tell the truth. Freaks shouldn't complain as they deserved what they got, and he'd already been so kind she didn't want to ruin it. Dove looked around for any sign of what she should do.

"Just answer honestly," her angel said as though reading her mind.

"My back and head hurts," she admitted quietly.

He nodded his head, having expected this answer, and rummaged through his robes to pull out her glasses and a glass vial. She put the glasses on, but didn't know what to do with the other. "Drink it," he told her. "It will help with the pain."

She hesitantly did as he asked and immediately felt the relief. "You haven't answered my question."

"Well spotted." He replied with a smirk. "I know your name because I knew your mother."

Dove straightened, never having heard anything even remotely polite about her parents. And even what she did hear was scarce. Her parents died in a car crash where she got her strange scar, her father was a drunken bum. That was all. She didn't even know what they looked like or their names. She didn't even know her own name until she went to school. "Really?"

He nodded. "We were friends and we went to school together."

She whispered, "What was her name?"

"Lily." He whispered back.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Severus Snape."

"Where are we, Severus Snape?"

The man tilted his head to the side at the young girl who looked and acted so much like Her. She too was always so curious about everything. "Hogwarts," he said the word just as he had those twenty odd years ago. He watched her cross her arms and suck in her bottom lip, just as She used to when he had exasperated her.

"Are you coy on purpose or do you honestly refuse to tell me what's going on?"

"Where does an eleven-year-old learn the word 'coy'?"

"Where does an adult learn to be so obstinate?"

"I'm an adult, it's in the job description." He replied, rather amused. Coy? Obstinate? He wasn't sure whether he should laugh or be impressed. He almost chose to laugh because of how serious her face was. "Hogwarts was the school your parents and I went to for special people."

"What kind of special people?"

"People who can do magic."

Dove went rigid. He said the 'm' word. "Are you a freak like me?"

"You are not a freak." He said sternly.

"Are you an angel?"

He almost didn't hear her, she asked it so quietly. "No," he told her. "I'm your godfather." She didn't say anything so he went on to explain. "A godfather is someone who- "

"I know what a godfather is."

"Oh."

"Where were you?"

Again, he almost didn't hear her, but he did and it made his chest tighten. "I didn't know. No one knew until recently when a hidden piece of your parent's will was found. Both of your parents chose a set of godparents for you. Your mother chose me."

"Does this mean I can visit you?"

"Would you want to?" He asked curiously.

"I like you well enough and I would like to learn more about my parents." She said very matter of fact. "Plus, it would give me a break from the Dursley's."

"Then I must apologize as you misunderstand me entirely." She drooped. "You will never see the Dursley's again as long as I will help it."

"Then where will I go?"

"You will be living with me," he stated. "The Headmaster should be here soon with the adoption papers from the Ministry."

"Then, I'll belong to you? With you?"

"I will take care of and be responsible for you, yes." She would be a part of a family. Maybe he would let her sit with him in the evenings before she went to sleep in whatever cupboard would be hers. Maybe. Dove smiled at him and he surprised himself by smiling back as the door opened and a commanding presence entered the room in purple robes. Her angel, Severus, stood up as soon as he saw who it was, so Dove sat up as straight as she could manage.

"Ah! You are awake, m'dear," he said. She looked to her angel-no-Severus, and at his nod she answered.

"Yes, sir. Good morning."

"And such wonderful manners too. Unfortunately, we haven't the time for such pleasantries as there is much to discuss. I understand you know next to nothing of your parents and their world."

"No, sir. I only just now learned my mother's name. I don't even know what they looked like, just that they died in a car crash after my father had been drinking."

"CAR CRASH! Car crash killed Lily and James Potter?" A new voice boomed and a giant joined the group at her bed. Dove scooted back away from him and grabbed Severus' hand. An act that did not go unnoticed by the Headmaster, or unappreciated by the man who's hand she was crushing so trustfully. "It's an outrage! A scandal!"

"Dove, this is Hagrid. He was a friend of your parents and he's the keeper of keys and grounds here at Hogwarts."

"Haven't seen you since you were a baby, Dove. You look jus like Lily. 'Cept the hair o' course. Thas all James." So her father's name was James, and he had black, troublesome hair.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hagrid." She smiled.

"Back to the earlier conversation," the man in purple robes, Dumble-something, said. "Your parents were not killed in a car crash or anything of the sort."

Her Severus sat beside her again. "Perhaps, Albus, we ought to tell her more about the Wizarding World first. She doesn't know anything about it. You saw the scene at the zoo."

"You both saw that?" She asked quietly, dejected. Of course they wouldn't want her now that they knew she was a freak, which was saddening as she already automatically loved each of the people she'd met. Especially her Severus.

"It was fairly impressive for accidental magic," Severus told her. "I once set my dinner on fire because I didn't like it."

"Really?" She asked, interested that she wasn't the only one. "What else?"

"Well now I can do all sorts of things. Things you will learn come September when you come to Hogwarts with all the other young witches and wizards."

"No, I-I can't be a witch. I'm just me. Just Dove."

"Then, Just Dove, how do you explain the incident at the zoo with the snake?"

"That was just an accident." She said softly, but starting to understand. Sort of.

"Think of the wonderful things you could do if you tried." The man in the beard said. Professor Dumbledore, Severus reminded her. "But first, Miss Potter, you should learn a few things that others will already know."

Her head was swimming and she was so hungry she was weak. What if she couldn't do what they wanted? She had never done anything like that on purpose, she would never! Severus must have seen this. "Let's get her some food first, Albus, and we can explain better while she eats. Though, not too much at one time I think." He snapped his fingers and a creature in a towel toga appeared with a Pop! -a short thing with a big head, huge floppy ears, and wide eyes. "Bring up a tray please, Zara, something light. Porridge perhaps, some toast, a glass of pumpkin juice and maybe some fruit."

*DPDPDPDPDP*

"That, Dove," he said after she had a feast in front of her. "was a house-elf. They are usually bound to whomever their owner is until they are presented with proper clothing. However, a lot of elves think of freedom as a punishment and do not want it. That was Zara. She has been with me since I was born and before that she was my mother's. She does not wish to be given clothes. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"This," Professor Dumbledore said, holding up a knobby stick. "is a wand. A receptacle for using our magic, but some can use it without one."

She had a lot to learn.

*DPDPDPDPDP*

After she was done eating and had a general grasp on Wizarding lingo, though she still wasn't entirely sure she understood that, Severus introduced her to Madame Pomfrey. The mediwitch looked her over one last time before telling her she could leave as her godfather was able to take care of her once they got to his home. Dove was anxious as he had mentioned the two of them working on some of her classwork and readings over the rest of the summer, but nothing about rules or chores or punishments. She had not seen any magic other than Zara and the mediwitch's diagnostic spells, which was mostly just colors and lights, so when Severus told her to step in the fireplace she did not.

"You won't hurt yourself, I promise."

"But there's a fire."

"Would it make you feel better if I did it first?" Without waiting for her answer, he stepped into the fireplace and held out his hand for her to take. She did, hesitantly. He held her tight, threw some sand or something into the fire and said very clearly, "Spinner's End."