Snape's Daughter

August 31^st. For the ten-millionth time that day, Serena shook her head in wonder.

"Hippogriff! I really can't believe it! I can't believe I didn't work it out. I can't believe it! It was so obvious too."

"The question is, how are you going to get a Hippogriff when you're at Hogwarts?" asked her father. He was still in bed as a result of the many stunning spells cast upon him. Somehow, that experience had changed him. He was - if it was at all possible - even more friendly than before. So far, Luke had not become brave enough to come and talk, no matter how often Serena insisted that he was a Gryffindor.

"Maybe, the last time I was sorted, but not this time," he would reply with absolute conviction.

While Severus Snape remained in bed, something he wasn't exactly happy about, Catherine Flaherty, Hagrid's soon-to-be wife, would be taking over the Potions lessons. She ran a shop in Devon with another of her friends, a quiet woman called Erika. They had been school friends at Hogwarts together, and Erika would be taking over the shop until the Potions Master returned.

"I'll find a way," replied Serena, confidently, to her father's question. It was really far too late to worry about that sort of thing now, as term would be starting tomorrow. Suddenly a knock rang out at the door.

"Serena, are you in there?" It was Luke. He never seemed adult at all. His friendship with Moony was fine, although slightly strained, and he got on better with those now his own age. That is, he enjoyed more the company of Serena and his girlfriend Cyndi. They had been going out in their sixth and seventh years, and saw no reason to stop now that they were back together again.

"Yeah, come in!"

She could almost sense Luke hesitating, and then to her great surprise the door opened as the dark-haired boy entered. He bit his lip nervously as he looked around the door, but then, after a quick glance at his ex-arch-enemy, he spoke in a normal voice to Serena.

"We have to go and pack now. Me and Cyndi... Cyndi and I, that is... have got you some stuff for school we thought you might like, and, since we've been before, we have a good idea of what to take." Again, he glanced warily at Snape, his eyes cloaked so that his emotions could not be seen. That likely meant, in this situation, that the feelings were not the best they could be.

The older man looked back. His expression had always seemed oddly light and unburdened since the incident of the previous week. It was as though he had become a different person, and even his normally greasy hair seemed less so. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, and Serena, who was most of the way across the room to Luke, paused. Then, he closed his mouth again, and finally reopened it.

"Sorry," was all he said, and his eyes closed. He fell back into sleep, his chest rising up and down reassuringly. There seemed to be a lot said in that one word. Sorry for trying to kill you, for one thing, but also sorry for everything that had ever happened between the two. Sorry for calling Lily a Mudblood. Sorry for telling that Remus was a werewolf in the summer of 1994. Serena looked at Luke but said nothing. Instead, she smiled and walked out of the room.

Behind her, she heard a sniff and the sound of someone wiping their face. Then she heard one word whispered back into the room. "Sorry." Then, Luke walked into the corridor, his face calm on the outside, but his eyes were strangely bright and happy. Forgiveness was a wonderful thing. They left the room and headed for the stairs.

"He's really changed," remarked the girl to her friend, who nodded with a slight grin. "Even before he was never like this," she added, referring to the times when her father had been at home with them during the holidays. "Now it's... well, wonderful! I'm beginning to suspect that he wasn't sure which personality he was most happy with, the bad guy or the loving dad."

Again, Luke nodded. His eyes had gone thoughtful, and he spoke as if to himself. "We're gonna have to keep this from Harry. It would be hard for him to accept, me being younger than him, and also me being alive. I mean, I'm glad we got the stuff about the veil wrong, but... I'm different now to how I was before."

Serena stopped. "Luke, just stop being so miserable about it! It took my mum long enough to recognise you, and Remus, when he'd seen the pic of us, still took until one week ago. Harry'll never recognise you, 'cos he's never seen you as a kid, remember."

"Yes he has," responded Luke, his eyes widening. "Bloody hell! I'll kill your dad!"

Serena raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

"When he was teaching Harry Occlumency, Harry went into the pensive, and..." Luke realised that Serena didn't understand a word of what he was saying, so he explained about what Harry had seen in the pensive.

"Well... that was only once. He probably looked at his dad more, anyway. You'll be fine! Plus loads of people look a bit like each other, and he thinks you're dead. He won't expect it."

Luke smiled gratefully at Serena. "Yeah, and I suppose with a new name he won't look twice at me." Suddenly, the boy laughed. "It's so weird without my mother and Kreacher around. I'm surprised my Muggle adoptive parents don't suspect anything, with me coming round here all the time."

"Well, you're supposed to be learning about magic, aren't you," said Cyndi, sitting on the bed just inside the room. They entered, and flung themselves down next to the friendly young witch. Her pale green eyes twinkled merrily. "Anyway, it's not like they're your real parents."

"Maybe that's a good thing," said Serena, thinking of the mad portrait. Everyone laughed. Earlier that morning, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had arrived at Number Twelve to fix something to the wheelchair. The 'something' turned out to be a small black box, two black boxes, in fact. They contained levitation charms that activated when the chair reached a flight of stairs or small drop. Cyndi just spoke the word "ascendere" to go up or "descendere" to go down. However, if the drop was larger than a certain amount then the chair would not take it. Instead, it would stop dead.

Serena had quickly spotted the problem with this when the professors were explaining what the adjustments did, and pointed it out to them. However, Professor Dumbledore explained that their friend would not go flying out of the chair. Also in the box was a charm that absorbed the force from the change in momentum.

That morning, the trio had had a lot of fun - Luke and Serena raced Cyndi and her chair up and down the stairs. It was very fast, much faster even than just pushing the chair normally. The American girl won every time, irritating the worn out Luke and Serena. She was totally relaxed, and not at all tired.

Now, however, the two experienced Hogwartians and ex-Gryffindors were seriously checking everything before it was put into the suitcase, as well as adding a few items of their own. The usual schoolbooks went in, as well as a new one from Diagon Alley. The Prankster's Guide to Pranking by Fred and George Weasley. After reading the first page, they were decided, and they had bought it straight away. They had recently taken Luke's parents back to Diagon Alley for another tour. Also, several Dungbombs, the main tool of a prankster, the as yet untested 'Cursing Cushions' ® and a box of 'Weasley's Wizard Whizz-Bangs' ®.

"Hunter, Padfoot, and Slythie, the three Hogwarts Marauders of the late 20^th Century," said Cyndi, her voice dreamy. "We'll be there at the change of century, you know."

"Slythie!" exclaimed Serena, as Luke spoke over her.

"We're gonna have to do something really memorable, like Fred and George Weasley," he said.

"Slythie!" said Serena again, indignantly.

"You try and think of something better, then!" retorted Cyndi, grinning.

"Okay then, I will," replied Serena, copying her American accent. "I am... am... Flick!"

"I like it!" exclaimed the pair together.

"Hunter, Padfoot, and Flick, the three Marauders," said Luke, tilting his head on one side like a dog. Cyndi laughed, and made a noise very similar to that of a screeching eagle. Serena paused, then hissed violently, making both jump. Then Tonks called up the stairs.

"Food! Come and get it!"

"Food..." said Luke, dreamily. He jumped to his feet a millisecond after Serena, and they were out of the door before Cyndi could sit down in her chair. But then she sped after them as quickly as possible, her movements sharp and clear. She arrived at the top of the stairs as they were half way down, and the charms did the rest. She was in the kitchen a split second before the other two.

Luke had never officially eaten at Number Twelve before, although by now everyone there knew who he was. His parents, however, were still not told. Remus had not got out of the habit of calling him 'Sirius', no matter how many times Luke winced and said that he was no longer Sirius but Luke, someone new. Tonks had not prepared the meal, sensibly. She had asked Dung, by far the better cook, to make it. Remus, to Luke's gratification, had gone to Hogwarts via the Floo Network for a secret talk with Dumbledore. Secret in the sense of its topic, since the fact that it had occurred was obvious to everyone.

Dung had prepared a special meal for their last night at home before Christmas. It was strange to be thinking so far forward already. He had made dragon burgers, which were not really from dragons as they were protected creatures, but beef. As well as the burgers, which were in the shape of dragons, there were chips and broccoli. For drinks, they had pumpkin juice with a tiny dash of Ogden's Old Firewhisky in them, a special from Dung. Serena was glad her parents were not in, and she suspected that Cyndi was too. Luke, of course, could make his own decisions. He had tried Firewhisky himself, and profusely recommended it. Soon, the three became drunk, even on the tiny amount Dung allowed them. For a thief, he was a very responsible man.

"You'd make a good dad, Dung," said Serena, glancing sideways at the Metamorphmagus as she did so. Tonks grinned as the unshaven man looked at her.

"Well, the wedding is planned for Christmas Eve," she said. That was a shocker. No one had known anything about a wedding. She laughed at all the gaping faces around her.

"Well, didn't you wonder why you haven't seen much of us recently? There's a wonderful chapel in Warwickshire that I've booked for the occasion."

"Princethorpe, right?" asked Serena shrewdly, who lived near there. Tonks nodded. The chapel at Princethorpe was, in fact, part of a school, and her Muggle friend was going to go to school there. Unless, Serena romanticised, she got a Hogwarts letter too. But that was very unlikely. Magic was, after all, a strange thing. It was not caused by genes, but seemed to 'choose' certain people. It was normally passed down to children though from parents.

Serena had once visited the place, for her parents' appearances and so her friend had someone to go round with. It had seemed very large, but it was the first year that girls had been accepted there. Caroline had really liked it.

After their meal, Luke and Serena tottered upstairs while Cyndi zigzagged about the hall before wobbling at speed up behind them. Serena giggled as she flung herself on her bed.

"D- Drink driving's illegal!"

Cyndi stuck out her tongue as she allowed herself to fall forwards from her chair onto her sleeping bag. Magically, it folded itself and put itself away - another addition from Dumbledore and McGonagall. Luke flung himself down beside her, only to hear a disembodied voice say something unrepeatable in his precise tones. He looked about him in drunken alarm, before dragging out a green and silver 'cursing cushion'.

"Bloody Slytherin!" he roared, flinging the cushion at Serena, whereupon it swore again. She grabbed it firmly with her hands, squashing it in the process. It swore for the third time while she fumbled for her wand and attempted to silence it. Then she threw it back at Luke, where the faint sound of his voice came again. All three groaned drunkenly.

Dung looked around the door. There was one spell that he had mastered pretty well recently, and he cast it on the three of them. Then he went downstairs to his future wife to continue the wedding plans.

Luke went red first, closely followed by Cyndi and Serena. They realised what they had been doing and lowered their eyes. All except Cyndi, that is. Instead, she burst into infectious laughter that soon took hold of the other two. They soon saw the funny side of what they had done, and soon Luke was blurting out a tale of something he had done as a ten-year-old in this house to the pair, back when he was within his parents' favour and Sirius.

*~*~*

"Didn't you hide that set of old Potions essays in the Room of Requirement before we left?" Cyndi asked Luke suddenly as they were talking about something that had happened a long time ago at Hogwarts.

"Yeah, and the Transfiguration ones," he replied thoughtfully. "But we can only try them out with Snape, 'cos McG'd definitely recognise my old ones."

"Why doesn't the Room of Requirement appear on the Map?" asked Serena, who had been told this but never wondered before now.

"Because to be a prankster you must find it of your own accord. Fred and George managed it, and so did we five. This is how it happened..."

11.30pm, September 1^st 1971. In the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, James Potter and his new friend, Peter Pettigrew, are still awake.

"Let's go for a walk, I can't sleep."

In the bed next to James, the hated Sirius Black is listening in. He looks at the quiet boy next to him. He seems really ill, but is also awake and looking sharply at Sirius. He places one finger to his lips.

James and Peter get up, and walk quietly to the door, grinning. As soon as they leave, the other two boys get up.

"They need to sleep. I should stop them!" mutters the quiet one. "They'll get into trouble, be expelled!"

"No they won't," replies Sirius. "My cousin, Andy, was out of bed on her first night and she didn't get into trouble. Then again, she didn't get caught." Suddenly, he grins. "Let's follow them!"

The quiet boy, his name is Remus, remembers Sirius, looks doubtfully at him for a moment, but then smiles and nods. They quickly leave the dorm room.

When they reach the common room, another girl is already there. It's Cyndi, the girl Sirius spotted on the train who is in a wheelchair.

"Why are boys so fussy?" she asks furiously, but keeping her voice down. "Help me out the hole!"

"Why the heck d'you want to go out? Lessons start tomorrow."

"I could say the same to you," responded Cyndi to James. The boys, however, ignore her and the portrait closes behind them. Heaving a sigh of frustration, she turns back to the dorms but sees the other two.

"Sirius and... Remus, right?" she asks, with an odd look at the sickly boy. They nod.

"Well, you gonna just stand there or help me out already?"

They do so, and then follow the fading footsteps of James and Peter. Despite her wheels, Cyndi makes the least noise. Sirius quietly asks why.

"Silencing charm. Not mine," she adds hastily. "The professors thought that it would be a good idea."

After a few minutes, and a lot of staircases, they see James and Peter standing in front of a blank wall, pacing up and down.

"Where is it?" exclaims James. "It's nearly midnight!"

The trio look at each other. What could James mean?

"Perhaps that's when it appears?" wonders Peter.

Suddenly the sound of a bell echoes dully about the castle. Twelve times it rings, and then falls silent. Suddenly a door appears in the wall. Looking in shock at each other, Cyndi, Sirius and Remus reach the door before it can swing shut behind Peter and James.

"What are you doing here?" asks James, angrily.

Sirius isn't listening. He looks about at the writing on the far wall. The Room of Marauders. Underneath is a piece of text describing something.

"Future Marauders of Hogwarts - Important Notice," he mutters. The other four move over. They read the message quickly, a serious message. Then Sirius takes a quill that lies beneath it and signs the line at the bottom.

"I solemnly swear to use my pranking spirit to keep the students of Hogwarts in good cheer."

The others repeat the words, signing on the other lines that are available. Suddenly a bell rings for quarter past twelve. The writing glows and vanishes, and the five feel as if some pact has been made, some peace.

"Best get back to the dorms then," says Sirius, turning for the door. However, James stops him.

"Bl- Sirius?" It is the first time he has called the boy by his first name.

"Yes... James?"

"I concede. You're alright really!"

They do not see Cyndi laughing in her chair as they leave the room again, and her eyes sparkle mischievously.

"So that's how it happened," said Cyndi, who had been helping Luke tell the tale. Serena herself had been completely absorbed in it, waiting to hear what would happen next. Now she looked absolutely disappointed that it was finished.

"So you reckon James and Peter always knew about the room?"

"Of course. Every seven years, new Marauders must be shown where the room is so they can prank too. James says his Dad was one..." Luke fell silent. He realised that he had talked about his friend in the present tense, as though he was not dead. Cyndi spoke into the silence.

"Sirius's - Luke's even - cousin Andromeda was one. She left the year we came."

Serena grinned. "Then someone else took over in 1978, lasted for seven years, and in 1985 someone took over... except then where do Fred and George come in?"

Luke leapt up from his sleeping bag in a panic. "Then the chain of Marauders was broken!"

"Calm down Luke, it was only for a few years. Fred and George must have had relations who were pranksters or something. It runs in the family - not my family," said Serena, grinning again and raising her hands peaceably. Luke dropped down to his bag again.

"I suppose we'd better get some sleep now. It's school in the morning."

Both girls groaned, then lay down on their bags. Serena fell to sleep almost instantly, the thought of a Hippogriff flying through the air to where an egg lay safely on a room in her dreams. Luke and Cyndi stayed away for a few minutes, chatting quietly, then they too dropped off.

While they slept, Tonks came in and switched off the light. "Sleep tight," she whispered, her now brown hair was tied behind her ears, and her pale blue eyes smiled at them. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.