“Holy Shites!" I screamed as a water balloon landed on me. After that dramatic apology I decided to go straight to the Great Hall for dinner instead of going back to the commons and waiting for others. I was walking along the corridor when a water balloon landed on me soaking my white shirt completely.

I looked down to see it had turned see-through. Great! Right in the middle of a crowded corridor. Lovely Merlin why do you do this to me?

Right now everyone was looking at me and considering how loud I shouted and how I looked that was no surprise. There were some others who had been soaked as well but none of them were not wearing white shirts. Someone wolf-whistled and I blushed.

“Whoa Snapey! Looking good!" Peeves whooshed in my ear. I folded my arms gaurdedly over my torso.

“I will certainly get you back you bastard." I hissed in his direction and started walking angrily away from all the people. I pulled out my wand remembering the witch part of my existence and performed the drying spell. My shirt turned back to opaque and I was saved the embarrassment of having everyone stare at me throughout dinner.

I walked up to the table and squeezed between Adrian and Terry. They scooted over to give me place. I pulled the salad towards me and loaded it on my plate.

“Where were you?" Fels asked.

“Yeah we searched the library and the commons. You weren't either place." Perry provided.

“I decided to apologise before dinner." I replied making castles with my carrots. I leaned back to appreciate my work. Not that good. I stabbed one and put it in my mouth.

“What did he say?" Fels asked.

“Nothing." I replied shrugging and adding peas to create boulders.

“What do you mean by nothing?" she asked stopping me from playing rocket with my spoon by holding my hand and placing it down. “Stop acting so childish!" she scolded. I rolled my eyes and scooped up my boulders to put in my mouth.

“Well I did not stop for a reply. Thought giving him some time to consider would do me good." I replied now playing around with the croutons and mashed potatoes to form a strong fort.

“Are you not hungry?" Vegs asked. I shook my head.

“I imagine she finds it difficult to indulge in simple pleasures like food when she has to think especially with that tiny brain." Terry replied for me in a real bad imitation of Snape's voice. She laughed. I rolled my eyes.

“Mr. Higgs, that wasn't even remotely funny." I mock sneered in a better attempt at mimicking. He stuck out his tongue at me.

“How girlish indeed!" I muttered. The others chuckled while Terry smacked me in the back of my head. I grinned.

**********

“Okay now, you wanna see Perry blush?" Terry asked Adrian quietly. Adrian raised an eyebrow. “For you?" he asked.

“Yes." Terry grinned. Perry was walking ahead of us. I snickered.

“Hey Perry tell me what is long, hard and has cum in it?" he asked her out of the blue. She turned.

“What?" she asked blushing a bit. She obviously heard the question. Fels started snickering like she knew the right answer.

“Shites Terry that's no way to talk to girls you idiot!" Adrian scolded suddenly becoming his proper self now that his dear girlfriend's virgin ears were involved.

“Dirty mind's at play, eh Boot?" Terry teased. She blushed. I knew the answer. I started laughing.

“A cucumber dumbass!" I declared through my laughter.

“Thanks for ruining my joke Snape! Your sister was looking like she would smack me if I answered with what she was thinking." he laughed. Vegs and Adrian blushed regretting their thoughts and he smacked Terry's head who was laughing his head off.

“Ms. Snape!" the familiar cold voice called and I froze mid-laugh. “A word in my office please?" he asked as a I turned.

He had refused to associate his surname with me. He used to simply call me 'you'. It was just that Dumbledore convinced him that he did let me continue using it officially. I raised an eyebrow surprised at the sudden change. He stood waiting for my response. Someone, and judging from the piercing sensation of long nails Fels, poked me.

“Ow! That hurt." I hissed rubbing my forearm. “Sorry. Wha- Yeah. Certainly. Yes." I replied eloquently.

He smirked and shook his head and turned to walk in the direction of his office. I followed. My heart was thudding hard and the little contents of my stomach threatened to heave. I kept up effortlessly with his brisk pace. We reached his office door. He muttered the password to open it and he held the door open for me to enter. I walked in and rubbed my palms nervously on my jeans. I hate sweaty palms.

The office was dang cold and in my current situation creepier than usual as the various specimens in their many coloured liquids and many shaped jars stared down at me. I was totally nervous.

“Those memories. They were the truth, I assume." he spoke. I turned around started by his sudden voice. I nodded.

“Untampered?" he asked.

“You should have been able to tell had I tampered I believe. Considering you are the Occlumency master at the school and all." I said turning to look at his coal black eyes and tearing my gaze away from the amber eyes of the toad floating right behind him in clear liquid.

“I asked you a question." he growled. I smirked. My fear was slowly ebbing away.

“And I gave you an answer. You know those memories were untampered. Why would I fool around when I know you would be able to detect a fake?" I shot back. He intertwined his fingers.

“Interesting." he muttered. “And what explanation can there be for a memory where I saw your mother alive? That you included dreams?" he asked. I narrowed my eyes in confusion. My mother? I never included that memory.

“No." I replied uncertainly. “Reality." But I never included that memory.

“So when you healed me you did not intend to show me those, as you would claim, memories?" he asked raising an eyebrow. I shook my head. I did not even realize any memory leak. I don't understand. This has never happened before.

“N-no." I replied shaking my head. “I never intended to show you that particular incident or any memories for that matter. Only those that were in the vial." I replied thoroughly confused. He narrowed his eyes.

“So your mother is alive?" he asked. I nodded.

“Shine, I seriously think you should stop living in dream reality." he said softly.

My eyes snapped up to look at him. His face had softened and his hard gaze held concern. He thought I was going crazy. That is why he felt the need to have this conversation.

“You think I am insane!" I hissed angrily. He did not agree to it but he did not deny it.

“Shine you have to see sense. Your mother is dead. Dumbledore told me that. Just because Black created some dream reality for you, you cannot continue to live it and dream of it as the truth." he explained. I stared at him my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as I gaped searching for words.

“You want proof?" I asked my voice harsher than I wanted it to be much sharper. He flinched.

“Shi-" he began but I cut him off.

“I asked you something. YOU WANT PROOF?" I asked as calmly as I could manage with my temper rising fast.

“Yes." he said softly.

“Fine. Let's get to Dumbledore." I said.

“I have already talked to Dumbledore." he told me. I was dang confused now.

“And?" I asked him mentally pulling at my hair.

“And he agrees with me." he told me. I can hardly believe this! That old pothead knows the truth. Why the heck are people so inclined on proving that I am insane?

“Liar." I hissed loudly. “You are a big effing liar." I shouted my whole body trembling in anger.

“No I am not." he said firmly catching me by my shoulders and pushing my angry trembling body into a chair. He pulled up a chair to sit opposite me.

“He is then. THE BIGGEST LIAR IN THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD!" I screamed.

“Shh..." he whispered pulling out his wand and pointing it at his door to stop the noise escaping.

“I need to talk to him." I said in a much quieter voice. “Now." I hissed glaring into his coal black eyes. He stared for a moment, then sighed and picked up the floo powder. He stuck his head into the emerald green flames.

“Albus a word please. In my office?" I heard him say.

“Certainly Severus!" I heard a soft muffled reply. He pulled out of the flames. I pulled off my tan leather gloves and dropped them on his desk. I ran a hand through my short hair making them messy and rubbed my palms together. The flames turned emerald green yet again and the tall, thin form of Albus Dumbledore spun into the fireplace. He walked out of the fireplace dusting his burgundy robes even as the flames changed back to normal colour.

“You called Severus?" he asked looking at Snape.

“Yes. She still claims her mother is alive." he said jerking his chin to point in my direction. I looked up at the two men staring down at me. Ah! Lovely! I am the new mental health specimen.

Dumbledore chuckled as if he was thinking on the same lines. “Actually Severus I had no idea she let that slip willingly or I would have supported her claims." he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I did not. Willingly at least." I drawled dragging a hand over my face. “But he started questioning suddenly and I told him the truth without thinking. By the way he thinks am insane."

“Sanity, my girl, is overrated." he replied. I had the strongest urge to roll my eyes but I exerted self control.

“Severus could I get a chair?" he asked and transformed some cork lying about into a chair. “Thank you. I am an old man with weak knees." he said sitting down.

“Why don't you sit as well?" he asked and Snape sat down scowling at the obvious fool that was made out of him.

“How?" he asked the first question. “You told me she was dead!" he growled.

“Ah Severus she is right now trapped in a position much worse than dead. Dead would have been a blessing actually for dear Iris." he said with a grim expression.

“What do you mean?" he asked.

“The night she almost died she put her life and her powers at stake. When she was attacked she used every bit of her energy and converted it to life source. That is how I guess she managed to stay alive until I arrived fifteen minutes later after hearing of the sighting of Dark Mark over Sirius' home." he told the part of the story everyone knew.

“Iris was one of the strongest of her kind. She had learned to do all that with her powers that many of her kind could only dream of. And yet much remained to be explored. She had learnt a unique talent. Thoughts, memories have an energy in them. That is how they are created, stored and destroyed although they cannot be destroyed entirely. They can be used to transform into some other form of energy. In her final moments there was nothing near her to absorb life force from. No living thing. So she used her own memories. That affected her brain since she did it on a larger scale than she had ever tried before." he took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Snape looked between the both of us as if he would go mad any moment.

“So you lied to me. You told me her father was a death eater and her mother dead." he growled getting real angry.

“Am sorry Severus. But I couldn't risk it with Iris. Infact I was hoping she would recover for years after that. Every time she showed development. But she is beyond repair it would seem. Her loss of memory would have been recoverable even but the impact of all the excess magic flowing through her and then all life draining out rapidly was that she got trapped in the mind of her three year old self. For an year and half after the birth of the twins she went into coma. One day by some miracle however she regained it. Slowly. First it was eye movement then twitching. For the next six months we thought she would make it. She did make a complete physical recovery. But her sanity was compromised. Over the years her mental age has increased with treatment but I see little scope with her memories returning." he finished. I pulled out my wand and twirled it over and over with my fingers.

“So there is no way to bring her back?" Snape asked and my head snapped up. I did not think he would concern himself over the murderer's wife. Cool! He can concern himself over anyone but me it appears.

“Actually I don't believe there is any way although healers have been trying for all these years and found no solution. I don't think anything would work out personally. But the lead healer in all this Serf Thickney believes that the memories are trapped in there. One outlet and it will reverse the damage. But for sixteen years we haven't found that outlet." he explained.

“Challenging!" Snape muttered twining his fingers and crossing his right leg over his left. “I would like to try what I can do in this case. Maybe my Potions skills could help." he offered. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and my head snapped up in surprise. I swear I am going to cramp my neck if this continues.

“Why do you sound so interested, Severus?" Dumbledore asked. He shrugged.

“Make sure it does not affect what you promised to do." Dumbledore reminded him discreetly. I rolled my eyes. I know what they were talking about. There was no need for secrecy around me.

“I don't need reminding of that everyday no matter what you believe." he snapped.

“I guess I will retreat back to my quarters then." Dumbledore declared and went back through the flames. “Goodnight Professor." I drawled lazily and inclined my head in his direction.

“Yeah right. Be more formal." he muttered but . "Night honey!" he called out. I raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

“Night Dad! Don't let the bedbugs bite!" I called over my shoulder walking out of the office.

“Umm Shine?" he called out. I turned. “Be careful around Moody. Good night." was all he said as he walked back in and closed his door. I shrugged thinking it kind of funny that he would ask me to be careful about that old ex-Auror. I mean c'mon how dangerous can an old auror be!

**********

Next day was all going well. Every teacher gave us the owl seriousness speech and lots of homework to top up. Especially with Herbology. Charms was fine. I could manage. But Herbology was my personal hell as the Chinese Chomping Cabbage kept trying to chomp off my hand instead of the carrot.

Scowling I walked out of the greenhouse as Vegs giggled behind my back. The girl is dang good at Herbology. She caught the cabbage and managed to feed it the carrot within minutes exactly as Sprout expected while I was left to nurse a bloody hand where the cabbage had bit me.

“You really should teach me that. Where did you learn it?" I asked.

“Remus loves gardening remember? He used to bring all these strange plants home. So I learnt quite a lot of Herbology as a kid." she replied. Realization dawned on my face.

“What do we have next?" Fels asked. I shrugged.

“D.A.D.A. I want to know that Moody guy. I heard he is great. That idiot Clive was on about him being great last night. They had him yesterday." Terry informed.

“Personally he freaks me out." Perry shuddered. Adrian put a comforting arm around her.

“I agree. Totally creeps me out too." Fels and Terry said at the same time.

“Have you seen Snape around him. It appears he's scared of him as well." Vegs said. I raised my eyebrows.

“You think so?" I asked. She nodded.

“He seems to avoid his eye magical or otherwise. Even stays as far from him as possible." she said even as we came to stand outside the classroom door.

“I guess it's a bit early to make those observations. And then Snape has always wanted this position so you can't actually blame him..." Perry explained to her as she opened the door to find most of the Gryffindors already settled on the front benches apparently over excited. We moved over to the middle benches in the row by the window. Fels pulled out the textbook and started looking through it. I looked out the window.

An owl caught some early prey as he flew back to it's treehole. In the distance I saw an eagle owl soar in fast. As it closed in I noticed it was Ninja Star. He flew in and perched itself on the window sill and handed me a note. I took it from him and was about to open it but he pecked me.

“Ow what fresh hell?" I asked scowling as I stemmed the blood from my finger. He hooted apologetically and spread his wings as if shrugging. I pushed the note into my pocket and pulled out my wand.

“Episkey." I muttered even as he flew away satisfied that he carried out his orders and did not let me open it in public.

“What was that about?" Fels asked. I shrugged observing Perry play up Adrian's hair into dragon spikes. The door opened and Moody walked in with his fake leg making considerable noise against the flagstone. I reached in my bag to pull out my textbook.

“Oh put them in. You won't be needing those in my class." he ordered in his gruff voice. I stopped midway and stowed it back in. His magical eye was making me nervous and with the warning Dad gave me last night... well let's just say my fears were kind of aggravated.

He started with the roll call by scanning the class with his magical eye and the list with his normal one.

“Right so I received a letter from Prof. Lupin about this class. He says last year you studied vampires, werewolves, grindylows, kappa, acromantula, demiguise, lethifolds and cockatrice. Fairly good work. However you are behind on curses. Far behind." he said in his gruff booming voice.

I looked at him as he came to stand in front of his desk. He certainly had an intimidating appearance. But I still don't understand why am supposed to be careful around him. He looked pretty normal to me. Yeah he looks scary with all those battle scars and that fake leg and that creepy magical eye, but he still doesn't look like more than slightly insane.

I cupped up my chin in my right palm as I leaned forwards slightly on the desk to listen better.

“Now I am here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I have one year to teach you to deal with the Dark Arts. At the end of this year you will be giving a very important exam the OWLs. And if you pay attention, you have nothing to worry about." he announced scanning the class, his magic eye lingering a moment longer than necessary on me leaving me self conscious.

“So let's get straight into it. Curses." he wrote on the blackboard and read aloud. He turned suddenly to throw a chalk at Montague. He yelped in surprise as it hit him suddenly. "Yes we all know Mr. Montague you have a crush on Ms. Greengrass but you will refrain from throwing crumple love notes at her in my class." he said and Fels blushed a real red. She looked down coyly to avoid everyone looking at her.

I smirked as I felt Terry tense sitting beside me. Moody continued with his lecture.

“The Ministry thinks you are not ready to deal with them before next year. But I say the earlier the better. No dark wizard is going to come to you and tell you softly what he is going to do. You have to know what you are facing to be able to deal with it. Right. So straight into it. Curses. They come in various forms. Some of them more dangerous than others. Now am not supposed to show you the illegal curses nut since Prof. Dumbledore believes in your nerves more than the Ministry he reckons you can cope. So.... do any of you know the illegal curses?" he asked raising his thin brows and the scar running across one brow stretched in an ugly manner across his face.

Several hands had rose into the air. Even Montague had raised an arm.

“Yes Mr. Mc'laggen?" he asked pointing at him to get up.

“Er, the Im- impedius Curse?" he asked uncertainly. I rolled my eyes. Nope darling it's Imperious.

“You mean the Imperious?" Moody asked him. He nodded vigorously. “Sit. Where did you hear of it?" he asked turning back to walk towards a jar which had spiders crawling in it.

“Umm my Dad mentioned it... er, once. When er, he was telling me about the first war against You-know-who." he replied. Moody grunted in acceptance.

“Aye your father works in the Law enforcement doesn't he? He would know of that. Many wizards claimed to be under the influence when under the dark lord's service. The Ministry workers had a field job knowing who was telling the truth." he said walking back to his desk and reaching for the jar of spiders in his desk. The spiders scrambled around inside trying to get away from him but he caught one and levitated it. With an evil grin he pointed the wand at the spider.

“Imperio." he said calmly. The moment the word was out the spider was calm as hell. It leapt out of Moody's hand and landed on the desk dangling from a fine thread of spider silk. It cartwheels twice in the air.

“Total control. I can make it do anything I want. Make it jump out the window or throw itself down one of your throats." he announced and the spider jumped to play around in Adrian's thick brown hair. He jumped up in fright trying to shake it off. The spider jumped out and stretched rigidly before climbing up the arm of Katie Bell who let out a loud shriek. Everyone started laughing.

“Would like it will you if I did that to you? Yes? Think it's funny. I have total control. Can make this spider do anything. Even throw itself down your throats." the laughter had died down almost instantly.

“The Imperious Curse can be fought and I will be teaching you how. But it requires real strength of character, so you better avoid being hit by it. Now CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared suddenly and everyone sat up with straighter backs.

“Now anyone else know of any other curses?" he asked dangling the spider from the ceiling. Fels raised an arm.

“Yes Ms. Greengrass?"

“The Cruciatus curse sir." she replied in a confident voice.

“Ah yes!" he muttered levitating the poor spider back to his desk. “The Cruciatus. You don't need no knives or nails to torture if you know this one. Needs to be a bit larger for you to get an idea." he said and threw the spider into the jar. He pulled out another and pointed his wand at the creature.

“Engorgio." he muttered and the spider slowly increased in size. It inflated to the size of a baby acromantula. “Crucio." he said and the spider started twitching. My eyesight started blurring and my hearing became unclear. The spider's body went rigid and it's legs bent at an odd angle away from it's body. It did not have a voice or it would have certainly screamed. He twisted his wand in the air making the spider rise higher in the air and twitch more violently when it struck. I clutched the desk hard and closed my eyes as a sudden vision hit but that won't stop the visions from flying behind my closed lids.

The dark lord entering a small cottage by the sea. His snake followed close behind. The woman inside opening the door. And then the Cruciatus hit. It hit hard and the pain started spreading from my core to every muscle as white hot knives pierced every inch of my body.

My eyes suddenly flew open but the vision of the screaming woman won't stop and I suddenly realised who it was. My mother! At that realization the sudden twisting of my muscles stopped and my eyesight cleared slowly as the ringing screams in my ears tuned down as if coming from a bad radio and ultimately stopped.

I opened my eyes to see concerned eyes of almost everyone looking at me. Did I scream or something? But I had kept my jaw tightly closed. Some of the Gryffindor girls were muttering away. I couldn't hear them but am not sure whether or not am glad I can't.

“Are you okay, kid?" Moody asked softly. I nodded. He looked at me for a few seconds longer as if searching for signs that I was not and then walked back up to the front of the desk.

“Very well. Then where were we? Ah yes- Pain. The Cruciatus causes ultimate pain. You don't need thumbscrews or knives for torture if you know the curse." he said softly.

“That was once very popular as well.... right.. anyone know any others?" he asked. I raised my hand.

“Yes Ms. Snape?" he pointed me out.

“Avada Kedavra sir... the killing curse." I said silently hoping he wouldn't demonstrate that one. And even if he did then hoping some vision wouldn't hit.

“Ah yes...the killing curse. No counter curse has been found. No one has been known to survive that curse. It's final." he said another crazed smile twisting his lopsided mouth as he tossed the second spider back into the jar and picked up a third.

“Avada Kedavra." he roared pointing his wand at the third spider who was madly twitching to get away as if realising what was coming.

The spider fell limp as soon as the apple green light of the curse hit it and rolled onto it's back. Many of the students stifled cries and gasps. The spider lay on Moody's desk unmistakably dead. He pushed the spider off his desk as if it never mattered and turned to the class.

“Not nice. Not at all pleasant. Impossible to survive. But only one person is known to survive it. The Boy Who Lived as we know him." he continued calmly. I really don't know what's happening to me. But am sure this started only after that visit to St. Mungo's.

“Now these are some curses that require a powerful bit of magic to perform. You can all just whip out your wands and try saying those words but unless you really mean them you will never manage to give me even a nosebleed. Now. Am not here to teach you how to do this but to show you how to counter them. But if the killing curse has no counter curse why am I showing you? That is because you have got to appreciate the worst. You don't want yourself in a situation facing the worst. Remember CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared at the end and everyone sat back up straight again.

“Now those three curses are known as the unforgivables. And that is what you are up against. Performing any one of those can land you straight into Azkaban. But to face them you need arming. And what you need most importantly is never ceasing vigilance. Copy down what is on the board now..." he said and we spent the next half hour scratching down the curses and counter curses. Not a single person was speaking. Everyone was almost too shocked. So we just copied down the stuff in silence and then he dismissed us when the bell rang.

And a torrent of voices burst. Everyone was talking of the fantastic class. But some were busy giving me glances.

“What exactly did I do in there?" I asked Perry.

“You.. you looked like you were in extreme pain. I mean you did not scream or anything but... you were clutching the desk so hard we thought you may be having a fit. And it stopped the moment he stopped the curse." she said with a concerned expression. “Are you sure it was nothing?" she asked.I nodded.

“Yeah. It's nothing. I just got a bit I don't know... somewhat scared I reckon." I replied.

“Leave it guys. I don't think she knows what happened considering she just asked us. Just drop it." Terry interfered and dragged me away putting an arm around my shoulder and picking up my bag. “Look at how confused the poor girl looks! Just drop it." he said and we walked up for lunch.

A/N: Aargh man I hate my ex so effing much! Good hell just had to get that out of my system...sorry

It's just he's being a royal arse and I just kinda managed to get over that idiot and now he's back again. And I don't want him getting all over my life and then argue yet again and me going yet again into mini depression.... okay sorry for ranting but I needed to get that out of my system.

Anyways guys here's an update! I know am bad. I haven't updated in so long. But am really sorry, I had exams and I didn't even have enough time to sleep.

But well here it is and I know it may not be that good. But that's all I could manage and it's long to make up for the long wait...