Armilla II

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or storyline created by the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Armilla Snape is my own original character.

Chapter 16

I was rather uneasy for two reasons as I waited for Severus in the sitting room on Wednesday morning. The first was my fear of running into a ghostly form of Merle again, and the other was the thought of having to make it clear to Anthony Goldstein that I wasn't interested. He had made it perfectly clear the day before that he had rather high hopes.

"Now," said Severus, striding into the room, adjusting his billowing robes, "you are to inform me immediately if the ghost, for want of a better word, makes another appearance."

I nodded. "I have a feeling that I'm going to be seeing her more than once."

"As do I," he said grimly.

"I'm still trying to work out how the impression of Merle could have been created so accurately," I said. "Wouldn't it be hard to recreate an impression of a dead person?"

He nodded. "It's clear that it's extremely advanced magic," he said, "but as to how it was created, I must admit that I have many questions myself...more questions than theories, unfortunately."

I shifted from one foot to the other, feeling more worried than before. I hated it when Severus admitted to not knowing something; though it made him seem, well, normal, it also shattered my rather juvenile belief that he had the answers to all my worries.

"I'm worried," I said softly, following Severus to the door.

He turned back to gaze at me, his hand on the doorknob. "I know," he said quietly. "But we're going to do our very best to get to the bottom of all this...that's all we can do."

I nodded, feeling a new wave of annoyance at my father. Severus and I had decided between ourselves that he was solely to blame for all this. Who else could it be?

"Can't he just admit defeat?" I grumbled.

Severus shook his head. "The only way you'll know that Father has been defeated will be when you receive a notice of his death."

"I don't think that's coming any time soon," I said resentfully, perfectly aware of how awful that sounded.

Severus, of course, having suffered Father in many more ways than I and for much longer, didn't judge me for such a comment. "No," he agreed. "That man's good health is a hindrance on our lives."

He reached out and grasped my hand. "But, as I said, we'll do everything we can to defeat him again."

I nodded.

He turned and opened to door. "Come," he said standing back to allow me to pass first. "I must not be late for the many inane youths it's my pleasure to educate."

o o o o o o o o o o o o

Breakfast turned out to be a much easier experience than I had anticipated. Anthony was seated too far away to strike up a conversation; all I had to do was pretend not to notice the very frequent smiles sent my way.

Lisa and Terry wanted to know why I hadn't returned to Ravenclaw Tower the night before, as I had said I would. I avoided telling them anything about meeting a ghost-like Merle. I was still feeling a little strange about it and for now I was happy to keep it between my brother, Dumbledore and myself. I simply told my friends that I had stayed rather late with Severus, looking over homework and I had missed curfew. They bought the excuse with no suspicion, seeing as I had done this more than once before.

I was glad that there was enough going on the hold everyone's attention elsewhere anyway. Many people at our table were gawking at the amount of owls that had delivered parcels or letters to Harry Potter since breakfast had started.

"He looks rather embarrassed about it," Terry said, watching as Harry, a little pink in the face, pushed the parcels aside and tried to start up a conversation with Hermione instead. Ron picked up one of the letters and laughed as he read it aloud to Seamus, who roared with laughter. Harry reached over and grabbed the letter from Ron's hands, giving him a half-hearted glare. Ron wisely went back to his breakfast, watching Hermione instead as she spoke to Harry.

"It's certainly a change from last year," said Luna. "Remember when he was receiving hate mail? People thought he had gone mad." She looked around at us, her eyes wide, "but I reminded him very often," she said in a dreamy voice, "that he was just as sane as I was."

Lisa choked on the pumpkin juice she'd been drinking and Terry reached over to clap her on the back. "Quite right," she said hoarsely, smiling at Terry.

Anthony caught up with me as we were leaving the Great Hall to head to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Would you mind walking with me to Slughorn's class, Armilla?" he asked, giving me a small smile.

Lisa and Terry paused, both looking uncomfortable. They both knew how keen Anthony was and how unenthusiastic I was.

"Yeah...sure," I said uncomfortably, trying to return the smile.

"Excellent," said Anthony, grinning at me.

Oh dear. I felt really horrible and I hadn't even told him no yet. Anthony was a perfectly nice boy; it wasn't his fault that I didn't like him that way.

Lisa and Terry turned around and walked towards the classroom without a backwards glance. I really wanted to catch up with them.

"So," said Anthony, as we began to walk, "looking forward to old Slughorn's class? I find them quite interesting."

"Yes," I said, trying to quicken the pace; Anthony seemed content to move slower than an incapacitated snail.

"You're quite possibly the best in the class," Anthony went on, smiling at me again and making no effort to walk faster.

"No, I'm not," I said honestly. "There are many skilled people in our class."

Anthony laughed. "You're so modest, Milly," he said. He looked a little startled when I frowned at him. "I can call you that, can't I? Terry calls you that."

I shook my head. Draco Malfoy had asked me the same question when he'd wanted me to go out with him. "No," I said flatly. "Terry's the only one who gets away with it. I don't want to encourage it."

"Oh, okay," Anthony said, nodding. "I suppose Terry would be able to get away with it, seeing as you two have been friends since First year."

"Mm," I said, starting to walk faster.

Anthony finally took the hint and quickened his pace.

"I was wondering, Armilla," he said, looking rather nervous, "if you'd like to have lunch with me today."

I looked over and saw his earnest face. Merlin, I felt simply awful.

"We could eat near the lake," he suggested, giving me a nervous smile.

I hadn't realised that my nails had been digging into my skin. I unclenched my hands and looked ahead of me for a moment. I could see Lisa and Terry way up ahead in the corridor, walking hand in hand. Terry was laughing hard about something.

I took a deep breath before looking over at Anthony again. He was staring at me, his face expectant. "Thank you for asking, Anthony," I said, genuinely. "It's really nice of you to ask, but I don't think it's a good idea."

His happy, albeit nervous face, didn't falter for a few seconds. Clearly he hadn't been expecting that sort of answer. After a few, terribly awkward moments, his face became crestfallen. "Why not?" he asked quietly, coming to a stop.

I stopped at as well. "Because I'd rather just be friends," I said softly, conscious of all the students in the corridor with us. "I don't want to ruin that."

Anthony's face became obstinate. "But I'm not happy with things that way," he said earnestly, "it could be so much better than that. Do you want to even try it and see how things go?"

I shook my head. "Anthony," I said, feeling terribly uncomfortable.

Anthony gazed at me with a disappointed expression. He let out a sigh, looking away. "I suppose your brother has something to do with your answer?"

I shook my head again. "No." Of course, Severus had expressed his disapproval, but I wasn't about to tell Anthony that. I was sure Severus expressed disapproval about a great number of people he met, particularly students.

"Come on, Armilla," Anthony said quietly, looking a little annoyed. "You can tell me."

"I did tell you," I said, a little crossly. "I'd like to remain friends. I like it that way."

Anthony looked away again, shaking his head. "Well, I don't, and I'm sure you'd feel differently after a while."

"Come along, come along!" boomed a voice from behind us. Slughorn was coming up the corridor, looking an extravagant sight in his violent blue frockcoat with sapphire buttons.

"Don't want to be late for class, do we, Miss Snape, Mr Goldstein?" he said merrily, waving his hands in front of him as a gesture to start walking.

"Yes, sir," said Anthony quietly. He took off an incredible pace and caught up to Kevin Entwhistle and walked with him instead.

Slughorn, much to my displeasure, took the opportunity to walk with me. "An admirer, Miss Snape?" he asked, winking at me.

I frowned. "No, sir," I said resolutely.

He chuckled. "So serious; Severus used to give me the same look when I questioned him about the ladies."

I stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate, but he didn't. "Oh, yes," he said, chuckling to himself. "I will flatter myself and say that I am responsible for many Hogwarts student romances that went on to great marriages."

"How wonderful, sir," I said dryly.

"Indeed, yes," he said, inclining his head. "I'm sure there are many beaus at this school who'd like to win your favour."

"I'm not sure that I am entirely enthusiastic about that at present, sir," I said politely, trying to sound disinterested. Honestly. Why did he have to walk with me?

"So well spoken," he chuckled again. "And with such a polite manner that subtly told me to mind my own business."

I allowed myself to laugh. "Not as subtle as I thought, then," I said.

He laughed again. "So like dear Severus. It's a shame you're not in my old House Armilla. You'd be a credit to the great House of Slytherin."

"I'm a credit to the even greater House of Ravenclaw, sir," I returned. "Severus will tell you that."

He smirked. "Cheeky reply. Severus is very blessed to have you."

I smiled. "Of course he is."

We reached the classroom and I joined Lisa and Terry at our usual row of desks towards the back of the room.

"Well?" Lisa mouthed to me.

"Just chipper," I said sarcastically.

"Didn't take it well, then?" Terry murmured.

"Not really," I replied, sitting down. I spotted Anthony sitting down a few rows ahead with Kevin.

At least that's over, I thought to myself. I felt horrible.

"Don't get too comfortable, folks!" boomed Slughorn as he came to stand at the front of the room. "I want to put you into your research pairs today."

I inwardly groaned. I had been hoping that Slughorn had forgotten about wanting to pair me with Harry Potter. It wasn't that I didn't like Harry; we had actually gotten along a lot better towards the end of our stay at Grimmauld Place; it was just that I knew Severus didn't like idea one bit. I didn't want him being nastier to Harry on my account if we didn't do well on Slughorn's tasks. Severus would no doubt blame Harry.

"Alright then!" said Slughorn, clapping his hands together. "I have mentioned before, ladies and gentlemen, that I want to promote inter-House unity among my students. I am therefore going to be delegating a homework research task that should take you an extended duration to complete. You will spend your own time before or after classes meeting up with your partner to share research or findings and agree on various courses of action to give direction to your task."

Somewhere behind me I heard a groan that sounded like it came from Ron Weasley.

"Mr Weasley," said Slughorn pleasantly, "let me introduce you first to your partner, Miss Lisa Turpin."

Lisa pursed her lips, clearly not enthusiastic about the idea. If there was anyone less passionate about studying than Ron Weasley, we had yet to meet the person. Lisa, on the other hand, rivalled Hermione in her studying habits.

"Miss Hermione Granger," said Slughorn pleasantly, "you will be partnering Mr Anthony Goldstein."

Anthony turned back in his seat and gave Hermione a small smile. He knew he'd been partnered with someone willing to work as hard as your usual Ravenclaw.

"Mr Terry Boot," Slughorn continued, ignoring the glare Ron was now giving Anthony, "you will carry out your research with Miss Lavender Brown."

Terry's fake smile said it all. I bit my lip in an effort not to laugh, while Lisa pursed her lips again. Lavender did not have a good reputation with boys.

"Mr Harry Potter," Slughorn said loudly, "you will have the pleasure of doing your research with Miss Armilla Snape."

We both nodded; no one looked surprised, seeing as Slughorn had mentioned this before. For some reason though, a couple of the Gryffindor girls were giving me resentful looks. Harry merely gave me a small smile.

Slughorn finished delegating partners and then told us to rearrange our seating arrangements so we would be sitting next to our partners. Once we had finished, he came around to each pair with a piece of parchment detailing the nature of each research task.

When he came to Harry and me, Slughorn winked at us. "I expect good results, you two," he said, handing me the parchment. As he walked away, Harry rolled his eyes.

"A bit much, isn't he?" he muttered.

"Just a tad," I replied, unrolling the parchment. I smoothed it out on the desk so we could both read it.

It wasn't too bad. We had to extensively research innovations in Defensive Magic and explain how it had shaped the wizarding world, both the good and the bad. We also had to decide upon a specific area of defensive magic and use our knowledge and research to design a new concept and possibly create a whole new spell. We had to give a presentation to the class in December.

"Well, there's some work," said Harry, after we'd finished reading.

I nodded. "There's many ways we can go with this."

"The history part aside, it's not a bad assignment," Harry said, reading it again. "It would be interesting to create a whole new spell." He looked over at me. "Any ideas?"

I shook my head. "No, but we've got plenty of time to think about it. We might get ideas from the research part...I think that's the point."

He nodded. "Think your brother will shed any light on all this? It's an area of interest for him, after all."

I gave a dry laugh. "He may point us in the direction of certain books, but I'm sure handy hints will be minimal."

Harry smiled. "Nice try, eh?"

o o o o o o o o o o o

I didn't see Severus alone again until Friday evening when I was due to spend the night in our quarters in the dungeons.

Since Tuesday night, I hadn't seen the ghostly Merle again and I was more than a little relieved. Perhaps, if I was very lucky, her appearances weren't going to be frequent, if at all. Severus had been leaving me messages on my chocolate frog card the last two nights, wanting reports on anything suspicious. The truth was, everything was going along so...normally. I felt a little paranoid, like I had to look for things to go wrong.

I went down to the dungeons shortly before dinner. Severus and I generally ate in the sitting room on Friday nights. Seeing as I was early, I decided to check Severus' office to see if he was still there.

I assumed right, finding him frowning down at a piece of parchment. As I came closer I could see that the piece of homework already had several red lines slashed across it.

"The First years' first batch of homework is living up to my usual expectations," he said, ruling another line through something and proceeding to write what was probably a scathing comment. "I am assuming this child is muggle-born," he said, narrowing his eyes at the parchment. "She's comparing the texture of a Forgetfulness potion to a..." he squinted down at the parchment, "a sludgie...whatever that is."

"It's a muggle drink," I informed him. "It's really thick stuff. You drink it through a straw. I had a raspberry one once."

He raised an eyebrow, looking disbelieving. "Did you enjoy it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, until I was sick. They're loaded with sugar."

"I assumed so," he said dryly. "I suppose Matilda introduced you to such an offensive concoction?"

I nodded. Matilda had always involved Merle and I in her discoveries throughout her career in Muggle Relations.

"You know," I said thoughtfully, watching as Severus ruled yet another line in the parchment, probably over the sludgie remark, "she's quite right in drawing that comparison. Sludgies do have a very similar texture to Forgetfulness potions."

Severus looked up with a dour expression, clearly not embracing this new enlightenment. "Well, the child cannot assume that her teachers are always going to know what muggle-ish things she's talking about," he said finally.

I shrugged. "She's only a First-year. Chances are she only just found out the wizarding world exists."

Severus gave a non-committal grunt, writing another comment before tossing the parchment aside and picking up another. I caught sight of the mark and was happy to see that the child had at least passed.

"Are you nearly finished?" I asked.

"I have one more that I would like to have out of the way before dinner," he answered, his eyes on the parchment. "That way you and I can duel tonight." He looked up. "Did you have a violin lesson with Professor Flitwick last night?"

I nodded. "Yes." Flitwick and I had arranged to continue my violin lessons on Thursday evenings.

He nodded and turned back to his parchment. A knock on the door drew a big sigh from him. "Enter," he called.

The door opened and Harry stepped in, a roll of parchment in his hand.

"Potter," said Severus, narrowing his eyes as he put his quill down. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Harry closed the door behind him before speaking. For someone who had spent a fair amount of time with us over the holidays, he looked a little uncomfortable. It just showed the efforts Severus went to keep hospitable off his list of personal traits.

"I came to hand in some homework to you, sir," Harry said politely. "I know I'm supposed to hand it in to you on Monday when we have our lesson, but Professor Dumbledore told me to ask you if you can change the day."

Severus frowned. "Why?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know, sir. I'm meant to meet with him at seven-thirty. I couldn't imagine we'd be finished by eight o'clock, when I'm meant to be down here."

"No," Severus agreed. He sighed. "Well, I'll see you on Wednesday at eight o'clock instead then. You will continue to practise until then and I shall know if you haven't."

By Severus' accounts, Harry had been getting better at Occlumency and maintaining self control.

"I have been practising," Harry said earnestly.

"Mm, we'll see," my brother replied, holding his hand out for the roll of parchment. "And you completed your written homework rather early, I see. I hope that doesn't mean it will be of a lesser quality."

"I don't think so, sir," Harry said quietly, handing it to him. "I found it difficult though."

Severus gave no reply to that. He unrolled the parchment and skimmed the first couple of paragraphs. "It appears sufficient," he said finally, "but I will of course pay it closer attention when I have the time. Is that all, Potter?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir." He turned to me, pulling something out of his pocket. "Armilla, I ran into Professor Slughorn on my way down here." He handed me a piece of parchment. "He wanted me to give you this when I saw you on Sunday morning, but I may as well give it to you now."

"What's this?" Severus asked sharply, as I took the parchment. "What reason do the two of you have to meet on a Sunday?" Realisation suddenly dawned on his face. "I suppose you two have been paired for that Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment?"

"Yes," I answered, as Harry nodded.

"Wonderful," Severus muttered.

"It's an extended research task," I told him. I proceeded to explain the nature of our assignment. Despite himself, I knew my brother well enough to detect a faint interest in his eyes as I explained.

"Well then, Potter," he said, looking sternly at Harry when I had finished. Harry stared resolutely back at him. "I expect you to work hard and achieve high marks. If I am not satisfied with the outcome of this research task you will suffer my displeasure. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir." I could tell that he resented being spoken to in such a way. I would have too.

Severus nodded curtly. "Very well." He gestured towards the door. "Dismissed."

Harry looked at me. "See you tomorrow," he murmured.

"Bye."

He turned and was gone in seconds, which was hardly surprising given his warm welcome.

I looked back at me brother.

"If you're about to question anything I just said to Potter," he said before I had the chance to say anything, "you would be wise to keep it to yourself."

His warning look told me not to waste my breath. Instead I occupied myself by opening the folded parchment Harry had given me. I groaned when I saw what it was.

Dear Miss Snape,

I would be delighted if you would join a small party of students at a dinner in my office, to be held next Friday night (13^th September) at 7:00pm.

Regards,

Professor Slughorn

"An invitation?" Severus drawled, without looking up.

"How did you know?" I asked, surprised.

Severus scribbled a mark on the parchment in front of him and placed it on top of a large stack. He looked up. "Blaise Zabini came to me not half an hour ago with his invitation."

"Oh." I looked back down at the invitation. "It gives no RSVP."

"That's because he expects you to attend," he said simply, standing up.

I frowned. "Do I have to go?"

He shook his head. "Not if you don't wish to. I am not concerned either way." He straightened a few things on his desk before moving towards the door, gesturing for me to follow. "However," he went on, opening the door, "you will find that Slughorn will pester you until you do attend one of his gatherings. They're fairly harmless."

"Did you used to go to them?" I asked, stepping past Severus into the draughty corridor.

"Only when I could think of no more excuses," he replied, closing the door and warding it. "It was a little hard to avoid my Head of House."

He didn't speak again until we had arrived at our quarters. Dinner was waiting for us on the table. We washed our hands and then sat down to eat.

"It would probably be wise to go to this dinner," Severus said, serving me stroganoff. "Hopefully then Slughorn won't pester you too much to go to others. In any case, as I've said before, it can be useful for you to remain in his favour." He glanced at me as he placed my plate down in front of me. "In any case, he already holds you in high esteem."

"Does he?" I said, disinterestedly, watching him serve himself.

"Does he indeed," he scoffed. "I was congratulated in the staffroom on Wednesday afternoon for having-," he frowned, "-now how did he phrase it...ah yes, he congratulated me for having a sister of fine charisma and wit." He looked at me expectantly. I couldn't tell if he what he thought about that.

Either way, such words didn't really move me. "He strikes me as the sort who hands out praise readily," I said.

"He does," Severus acknowledged, picking up his knife and fork. "But there's only a select number of people who truly impress him. You're without a doubt on that list."

"I didn't mean to," I said, picking up my own cutlery. "I'd rather not talk to him if I can help it."

We ate for a couple of minutes before Severus suddenly smirked. "Incidentally," he said, putting his glass of water down, "Slughorn did mention that he was talking to you straight after a rather dissatisfied Mr Goldstein fled the scene."

I paused to frown at him. "Reports everything, does he?"

"Well?" Severus pressed, ignoring my comment.

I gazed at him for a moment, choosing not to verbalise my present thought that male teachers seemed to enjoy their gossip as much as the female ones.

"I told him no," I said simply, turning back to my meal.

Severus actually looked disappointed. "That's all?"

I nodded. "That's all."

"And how did he take it?"

"He wasn't happy," I said, "but you couldn't really expect someone in that situation to be."

"No," Severus said softly, staring at me.

"He got partnered with Hermione for the research project," I said, trying to direct the conversation away from going through the particulars.

"Ah, two blows in one day," he said, shaking his head.

I glared at him. "I think it made his day better," I said honestly. "I'm sorrier for Lisa. She has to do her project with Ron Weasley."

Severus grimaced. "Yes, well I suppose she is worthier of my pity then."

"Harry and I are only meeting on Sunday morning to look for books in the library," I told him.

"I may have a few useful books," he said, his eyes roving the many books on the shelves across the room. I highly doubted he could read the titles from where we were sitting; perhaps he could recognise all the spines.

"I hope so." I had brought up the subject in the hope that Severus would mention his own books. I was normally allowed to use the books kept in the sitting room, but I had been wondering if Severus would change his mind because Harry was involved.

"Make sure Potter pulls his weight," Severus said, scowling. "I don't want him attaching his name to anything that is all your work."

I nodded. "I think he will work hard."

Severus snorted.

o o o o o o o o o o o

We practised duelling after dinner. We were still working on Severus' bubble hex idea. I wasn't entirely confident that I would ever be good enough to shield a bubble hex that had the force of an Unforgivable.

"Last one," Severus said, after we'd been duelling for over an hour.

I watched as he cast a whitish sphere and proceeded to cast hexes directly into it, giving the sphere a reddish hue. Without warning, he directed the sphere to hurl directly at me.

I just managed to block it; I felt the power of it hit my mental shield and I couldn't put all my focus into returning my own hex at the same time.

"I still can't fire back as strong as I'd like to," I complained, when we saw down.

"Patience is a virtue, Armilla," Severus said, leaning back into the sofa. "The fact that you're managing to block a hex of that force is all I ask at the moment. You want to conquer too much too quickly."

I shook my head, running my hand along my wand. "I'd rather be prepared for surprises," I said quietly, thinking of my encounter with Father three months ago. I couldn't believe three months had passed since then. I could remember every detail like it had just happened. It still surprised me that after all Father had done, it was still my old governess, Rougier, who I hated more.

"That one sentence speaks volumes," Severus said, breaking me out of my reverie. "However, it's difficult to be prepared for surprises. That's the advantage."

"You know what I mean," I murmured, putting my wand away.

I felt a hand run through my hair and as I leaned back he brushed it against my cheek.

"Always," he said softly.

o o o o o o o o o

"So where to start?" I muttered, looking at the rows and rows of books.

"That's always the hardest part," said Harry, his eyes scanning the titles in front of us. "Did you ask Snape for any ideas about what books to use?"

I nodded. "He has some I can borrow, but I'm never allowed to take them outside those rooms. I'll have to take notes from them and show you."

Harry nodded. "Thanks."

We collected a bunch of books and sat down at a table as far from Madam Pince as we could get. The library was deserted save for a couple of Seventh years. We spent over an hour selecting useful ones and jotting down notes.

"Hopefully these will give us some direction in developing a new form of defensive magic," I said, skimming over my notes. Again, that sort of thing was Severus' area of expertise. I wasn't really keen on going to him for help though. I wanted to prove to him myself that Harry and I would be able to come up with something on our own.

"Actually," said Harry thoughtfully, "I have a book that has a few ideas."

"We can't take the ideas though," I said. "Chances are that if they're been published, they've been properly developed by now."

"No," Harry said. "I meant that-" he paused, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable.

"What's the matter?"

Harry looked a little doubtfully at me. "I suppose I can trust you," he said finally. "After all, you did give Sirius' mirror back to me without telling your brother about it...and I would rather tell you about the book because I really like the ideas in it."

I nodded. "You can trust me."

Harry nodded. "I've got a book on defensive magic," he said finally. "Well-" he scratched his head, "-it's not good because of what it's about; it's the notes in the margin that make it good. The owner had some creative ideas. Seeing as the ideas were just notes, I doubt the owner of the book ever properly developed them."

"Who was the owner?" I asked, intrigued.

Harry reached into his bag and pulled out an extremely battered copy of an old defensive magic book. The navy blue cover looked like it had been repaired many times.

Harry flipped it open to the cover page where I saw two different handwritings. The first was a rather large scrawl, but the first name had been crossed out.

Christian Potter.

Underneath the crossed out written part was another name. A name I was very familiar with.

Lucia.

"I found this book during the summer," Harry said quietly, giving me a knowing look that meant he was talking about Grimmauld Place. "Obviously they, well Christian at least, were my relatives." He grinned. "Isn't that amazing?"

I nodded, at a loss for words. Lucia...Lucia Potter. My brain was working in overload. My Great Aunt Lucia. My namesake. Harry had no idea that we were distantly related. Severus preferred to keep it that way. He had no idea that if my existence hadn't been discovered, Harry had been next in line to inherit the Merrigan Estate.

"What's even better," Harry went on excitedly, "is that it must have been my father who also owned it because there are two other people who constantly have conversations throughout this book and one of them has my mother's name. If the book belonged to the Potter family, my father must have used this at school." He pushed a page towards me. "Here - look."

I looked down and read the short conversation.

Beat you in Potions this morning.

Only because you copied me.

Did not.

Did too.

Did, did, did...

You're so immature, Lily...

"Funny, huh?" Harry said, smiling down at the page.

"Mm," I said, too shocked to say anything more. Harry seemed so caught up in his happiness of being able to get to know his parents through the book.

One of them at least.

I certainly recognised the handwriting of the second person in the conversation. I would know it anywhere. It had changed a bit since then, but there was no mistaking that cramped, spiky writing.