Watching

Watching

Chapter 1

I've always watched him...ever since I saw him on Platform 9 ¾ seven years ago. He's famous for what he did but did not do. Not when you really think about it. He didn't make the curse rebound away from him. It was his mother...our mother.

I'm the same age as he is; I honestly don't understand it. We're not twins, I am months older than he is, but we are related. I am his sister, though he does not know it.

He'll tell you sometimes he can sense someone is watching, then he'll tell you it's Voldemort. It isn't. It's me. I am what lurks in the shadows, always watching, always waiting.

I am waiting for him to notice I'm here. I'm waiting for him to look into the shadows, to call me out of them, to look into my eyes and see his own reflected back at him.

But there is a difference in our eyes. His eyes bare no walls, nothing to hide his emotions. If you look into my eyes, you will see no emotion. You will see the brilliant green color that was in our mother's eyes, but that is all. My up brining has taught me to wear a mask.

If we were to stand side-by-side, our eyes would be the only things to hint that we may have similar blood in our veins. Yes, my hair is black, but it is a different black, not his black. My skin is pale, almost white in comparison to his tanned completion from hours of playing Quidditch. Our build is different. Where he is short, I am tall; where he is muscled, I am not. Where he as light I have darkness.

I take pride in my appearance, with my finely tailored clothes and my makeup. My slender build and long straight hair that is never out of place is never scoffed at. Many in my House tell me as much, but non dare ask me out; not with my father always so close.

I'm not in the same House he is; I'm in my father's.

All in my House know of my relation, but being as we are, secrets go to the grave. Non are more loyal than the Slytherins. Non have our cunning, our ambitiousness, our maliciousness. We are unique, we are one, we are alone, we are proud.

But always I want my brother to turn around, to question my presence, to understand even his family has secrets.

I think he may have seen me once, following him on an adventure. If he has, he thought me to be an illusion, something un-real.

I follow him tonight. I study him as he runs off into the forest. He's forgotten his Invisibility Cloak tonight. Oh how I wish to know him. I am tired of watching. Let him see me, just this once. Let him challenge my presence, just this once....

And he does. He sees me. He knows I am real.

"Who are you?" he calls from the middle of the clearing. The full moon shines on him fully. His green eyes search the shadows until I step out into the silvery beams and see his eyes widen in shock.

I have his eyes; it's the first thing he notices, but not quite his eyes.

"Who are you?" he asks again.

I reach out a hand to him, "Athena Snape," I answer.