Disclaimer: Harry Potter and friends belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this story.

A/N: Any italics in the story are either flashback/thoughts or quoted directly from the books.

Also, I'm rather unhappy with . I can't use special characters to transition between chapters (grrr). I think I found a way around it though. I will eventually be going back to the last story and updating the chapters.

WARNING: This chapter will deal with some sensitive material, reader discretion is advised (lol always wanted to say that).

Bandia, this chapter is for you, thanks for the great review!

HLP 2 – Slytherin Secrets

Chapter 1:

Severus Tobias Snape, known to the muggle world as Professor Toby King of Cambridge University sat in the den reading a Popular Science magazine. He'd been studying ways of combining magic with muggle technology and was intent on the article about artificial intelligence when he heard a scream from upstairs.

The magazine fell to the floor, instantly forgotten as he lurched to his feet and raced up the stairs, wand at the ready. It rather surprised him then to discover that Harriet was not in her room. Becoming frantic, he was just about ready to rush downstairs to the fireplace when he heard a whimper from the bathroom.

"Harriet, are you in there?" He asked. Fear and concern laced his voice.

"I-I-I don't know what's happening," Harriet's voice sounded small through the heavy oak door.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He reached for the doorknob.

"I think so. My stomach hurts and I'm bleeding," Harriet's words had him tugging at the locked door, wand forgotten.

"Don't come in, I'm not dressed." Harriet squeaked from the other side of the door.

"How can I help you if I can't see the wound?"

"I don't know where the wound is. I think it's inside," the panic in her voice was growing noticeably stronger.

"Inside?" Severus was puzzled.

"In my…in my private place," Harriet's words were barely audible. He could hear the embarrassed overtones.

Color began creeping up his neck and into his face as he realized what the problem was.

"Don't worry, Harriet, I'm going to call Andromeda. She will be able to help you," he hurried downstairs and threw half the bag of floo powder into the fire. "Andromeda Tonks, Tonks Cottage." He thrust his head into the fireplace the moment it turned green.

"Andi are you there?" He bellowed.

There was a squeak of surprise from Andi as she and Ted hastened to rearrange their clothes. Severus turned his face away, mortified. A moment later, Andromeda Tonks was kneeling beside the fireplace.

"You can look now, Severus," she laughed. "What is the problem?"

"It's Harriet. You need to come, quickly. She's…She's…I need you to explain things to her," he finished, too embarrassed to explain properly.

Concerned that something bad had happened to Harriet, she grabbed her medical bag and flooed to Lily's Heart.

"What seems to be the problem, Severus?" She asked as she dusted floo powder from her robes.

"Harriet's in the bathroom and she won't come out. She says her stomach hurts and she's bleeding from her private area. I'm pretty sure she's starting the lunar curse as Lily used to call it. I'd like for you to check her and make sure she is alright, and if it is that, could you please explain to her what is going on? I can't. How do I explain something like that to a girl?" He knew he sounded desperate, but he didn't care. He'd get on his knees and beg if he had to. There was no way he could possibly explain something that intimate to an eleven-year-old girl.

"Oh. Oh,"

Severus knew he was in trouble when he heard the laughter in that second "Oh."

Giggling, Andromeda headed up the stairs. She hadn't even reached the top when he heard her begin guffawing loudly. There was a rap on the bathroom door and a moment later the sound of the door opening and closing.

He sank down into his chair in relief, knowing he would never hear the end of it from her.

HLPHLPHLP

Harriet heard Andromeda's rich laughter from her perch on the loo. When the knock sounded on the door, she flicked her wand and removed the locking spell on it.

Andromeda stepped into the room and looked at her.

"Tell me what is wrong, child," she instructed in a gentle voice.

"I woke up this morning and my stomach was hurting bad, here," Harriet placed a hand on her lower abdomen. "I thought maybe I was getting sick, so I hurried in here. That's when I noticed the blood," she gestured a shaky hand at a pair of blood streaked white cotton knickers lying in the corner.

"Okay, I think I know what the problem is, but I want to ask a few questions first."

"Okay," Harriet agreed, still frightened.

"Have you fallen recently in such a way that you landed on your vagina or abdomen?"

Harriet shook her head, face scarlet.

"Has anyone ever touched you in your private places or stuck any object or part of their body there?" Andromeda asked, her no nonsense tone warning Harriet to be truthful.

Harriet blushed, "no."

"Have you ever touched yourself there?"

"No."

"Okay, I'm just going to check something, stand still for a moment," She pulled her wand and waved it at Harriet. A feeling of warmth washed over her and she could almost swear she saw a glow from the corner of her eyes.

"Good," Andromeda said, flicking her wand again. The warmth disappeared.

"Everything looks normal. You aren't injured, child. What is happening to you is perfectly natural."

Harriet heaved a sigh of relief as Andromeda launched into an in-depth explanation of menstruation and the female reproductive system. They discussed it at length, Andromeda answering all of Harriet's questions. Finally, she swished her wand and conjured an object that was folded and wrapped in white plastic.

"Now dear, this spell is called 'ABSORBUS,' it will help absorb the blood that your body releases during this time. It was created by an American witch who was tired of using the old archaic methods. Now all you do is tap a clean pair of knickers twice with the tip of your wand and say 'ABSORBUS.' The spell works for twelve hours and then you must renew it or you will have a mess. It works much better than muggle alternatives. I want you to try it," she gestured to the clean pair of knickers that were neatly folded on the counter.

Harriet nodded and lifted her wand, tapping the knickers twice and repeating the word perfectly.

"Very good, Harriet, now remember, this doesn't vanish the blood, so you will have to make sure you rinse them out at the end of the night or have the house elves do it. I'll send Nymphadora over tomorrow to help you shop, I have a feeling you may need some bras before the school year is over again," Andromeda hugged the girl who was nearly as dear to her as her own daughter.

"Thanks Cousin Andi, I was terrified I'd done something to hurt myself. What were you laughing about before you came in here, by the way?"

Andi laughed, "Your uncle was too embarrassed to explain to you what was going on, so he called me and asked me to do it."

Harriet chucked, "I'm glad you did. I'd have been too embarrassed to ever look at him again if I'd he'd been the one to explain all that to me." She hugged her cousin one last time and then Andromeda left. Harriet re-locked the door and turned on the shower.

A/N: I thought we should address how that subject was dealt with, considering I could see both Snape and Harriet having a problem with Snape having to explain the facts of life to her. You can bet Andi is going to expect ample repayment though; she was a Slytherin after all.