Friend

Snape looked at the helpless girl, chained to the ground. He knew what Voldemort would do to her; still, she had been stupid enough to get caught. Spying wasn't something to be taken lightly-and he should know.

"My loyal friends, I have good news," came a sickening voice from near by. "At last the time has come for dear little Harry Potter to meet his mother and father. I do so love a heart-warming tale. This happy event will take place on the second day of December, a very important date."

"Forgive me master, but how?" asked a timid cloaked Death Eater.

Snape wished the idiotic Death Eater would shut up. Not many people questioned Voldemort and lived to tell.

'Thanks to a well placed Hogwarts Mole," replied Voldemort, who didn't seem at all aggravated by the question. In fact, he seemed quite pleased.

"Won't Dumbledore do something to protect Potter?" asked the same cloaked figure.

"Oh yes," answered Voldemort softly. "Which is why a fellow student assassin is such a useful thing."

Snape's stomach turned. A student?

***

"It is my pleasure to announce the arrival of two new sixth years to Hogwarts," beamed Headmaster Dumbledore. "Solitaire Powys and Lowri Wych."

Snape watched as two distinctly different girls stood next to Professor McGonagall and the sorting hat.

"Solitaire joins us from Beauxbaton and Lowri will be studying here for two months whilst both her parents are working in Hogsmeade."

When Dumbledore had finished speaking, Professor McGonagall indicated for Solitaire to sit on the sorting stool. The striking girl pulled her long hair to one side as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head. Her green eyes fixed to the floor in concentration.

"RAVENCLAW!" said the Sorting Hat, after much deliberation.

"Shame," said Ron looking over at the cheering Ravenclaw table. Harry stifled a giggle as Hermione glared at them.

Lowri took her place on the stool. She was an awkward girl, with messy jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes.

"SLYTHERIN!" said the Sorting Hat almost immediately.

"Thank goodness," laughed Ron as the Slytherins cheered. "She looks a bit strange."

"Ron," said Hermione in her teacher tone of voice, "just because she's not as pretty as the other girl, there's no need to be nasty."

Ron rolled his eyes.

Lowri walked over to the Slytherin table and refused to meet anyone's gaze, not that anyone made an effort to talk to her.

Snape watched both the new students carefully. The Powys girl looked confident. The other, scared and sad. He was glad she had been placed in Slytherin. He had a feeling she would be the one to watch.

***

"Look where you are going, will you? Honestly, for a Slytherin, Wych, you really need to stop acting like an idiotic Gryffindor." Draco looked at the new girl in disgust as she clumsily ran into him outside Potions.

"Sorry," she muttered, not meeting his gaze. She followed him into the classroom, where most of the Slytherins and Gryffindors were already seated, and took a chair at the very back of the class.

Snape swept in moments later.

"Find a partner, quickly. You are going to make a camouflage potion, which when attempted mildly, can be extremely dangerous. You, sadly, are not capable of making it individually, though even in pairs I suspect some will experience difficulty." He fixed his eyes on Harry and Ron.

The class moved in to pairs and just as Snape was about to issue further instructions, a small voice piped up from the back of the room, "I...I haven't got a partner." The whole class turned to look at Lowri.

"You can work with Granger and Longbottom. They could use the extra help," he smirked, looking at Neville.

Lowri moved to sit next to Hermione, who smiled kindly and whispered a "Hi."

"Take the fairy wings and mix them with the seaweed. Then follow the instructions from Advanced Potions, Third Edition. If you can still see the potion in one hour, then it is safe to say you have not done it properly." Snape returned to his desk and started preparing notes for his next class.

Lowri silently helped Hermione and Neville, despite Hermione's best attempts at conversation.

"We need some more seaweed," said Hermione eventually. "Lowri, would you mind getting some?"

"Sure," replied Lowri wistfully, not paying much attention. She walked towards the front of the class to where the ingredients were kept on a shelf and on her way back stopped at Harry and Ron's desk.

"Um, are you OK?" said Harry, slightly concerned at the intent look.

"Are you Harry Potter...?" she asked

"Er, yeah."

"Miss Wych," came a smooth voice from behind her, "if I found myself in the company of Granger and Longbottom, I too would get up and leave, but I can assure you that the company of Weasley and Potter is not a vast improvement. I suggest you go back to where I assigned you."

"Sorry, I was just getting some sea..."

"Now," interrupted Snape, before gliding back to his desk.

Embarrassed, Lowri returned to Hermione and Neville.

"Told you she was strange," whispered Ron. "She just looks the type...arghhhh," he yelled, jumping back just as the potion exploded with an almighty bang.

Snape pointed his wand just as the pieces of glass and bits of potion went zooming into the air, and it returned to the desk all in one piece.

"It wasn't me!" said Ron. "Or him," he added quickly, pointing at Harry.

"Well in that case, I do not want you to come to any harm by the mysterious force that blew up the potion, you and Potter can come and dissect these rats ready for my next class...."

"Did I say I didn't do it?" said Ron slapping his forehead with his hand, "I meant to say that I did do it, and so did he," again pointing at Harry.

He gave them a look not to be argued with, and grudgingly, they moved to the desk with the rats on.

Snape gazed over at Lowri. It had to be her.

***

"That man is bloody twisted," moaned Ron to Harry and Hermione after Potions. "Are you OK Hermione?" he said sympathetically patting her on the back.

"I'm great," she replied slightly confused. ''Why?"

"You had to work with that Lowri girl. I swear she must have done something to the potion. That's the only way to explain it."

"Or maybe you just did it wrong?" said Hermione, smiling sweetly.

"Thanks," replied Ron mock grumpily.

"She did act really weird just before it exploded though," Harry joined in.

"Tell me about it. She seemed star struck with you anyway. Maybe you should have given her your autograph?" laughed Ron

Harry nudged him playfully and picked up his quill from his bag to write a pretend autograph for Ron. "Hey what's this?" he said picking up a note attached to his quill.

"Harry you die," he read out slowly.

"What?" asked Hermione, snatching the note from Harry. "Where did that come from?"

"I used it last in Potions..."

"Lowri," said Ron as he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I guess," said Harry quietly.

***

Snape waited impatiently for his sixth year Slytherin and Gryffindor Potions class. Now they were sixth years and studying at NEWT level, they sometimes had Potions twice a day. A surprising amount of students had achieved 'O' in their OWLS and this irked him no end. He suspected foul play, but still, it gave him the chance to keep an eye on the Potter boy.

Eventually his class started to drift in. "Come on, hurry up," he bellowed. "Where is Wych?"

"Please, sir," said Lavender, raising her hand, "she fell down one of the moving staircases earlier. She broke her leg, and even though Madam Pomfrey fixed it, she sent her home because she was kind of traumatised."

'What?' thought Snape slowly, 'But I thought Lowri was the...'

His thoughts were interrupted as Hermione let out a shriek. Harry had just opened a note addressed to him on his desk.

"Soon," he read the single word out.

"Obviously not," muttered Snape grimly.