I put up a poll, just so I can see what you guys think. If there is something you'd like to see that isn't in the poll box, feel free to let me know. I am very open to suggestions!

ANNNNNDDDD, I finished chapter 13 a lot quicker than I had previously thought, as well. I hope you enjoy (and please feel free to criticize if you don't like something)! :swfight:
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Chapter 13: Tobias Snape, Jr.

By the time Clementine and James entered the common room it was nearly empty. The only people inside were Albus and Rose who looked at them with wide eyes as they entered.

“Come, now, you have to know,” said Albus.

“One moment,” she said, and she turned to James who simply nodded and went to bed.

Clementine watched him go up the stairs and disappear behind the wall that concealed the boy dormitories. She finally made her way to where they were sitting, in front of the dying fire.

“Okay, so what did you find out,” asked Clementine.

“This is completely unbelievable,” said Albus.

“Yeah, we never thought this was possible,” exclaimed Rose.

“Well, what is it,” said Clementine, not wanting to be left in the cold.

But just then, they heard someone coming down the stairs from the boy’s dormitory. Thinking of James, Clementine stood up and walked to the stairs. She soon realized that it wasn’t James, but the fifth year prefect, Kevin.

“What are you first years doing up so late,” he said, stifling a yawn.

“Oh, we had some homework to finish,” said Rose, who shocked Albus and Clementine by lying to a superior.

“Then where are your book bags,” he asked, noting the lack of school things they would need to finish their homework.

“Oh, right, well, you see,” started Clementine, but he just held up a hand.

“You three better get to bed. You can talk tomorrow. Good night,” he said, and he stood on the steps to make sure they went to their beds.

Clementine waited for Rose.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” said Albus, and he was swept up the stairs and out of sight. Clementine and Rose turned around and marched up the stairs for the girl’s dormitory.

“We’ll tell you tomorrow. It is late,” said Rose. Clementine simply nodded, pulled on her pajamas and laid down in bed, her mind swimming in thoughts from James to Snape.

* * *

They were sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating large portions.

“So, can you tell me now,” said Clementine, gulping down orange juice. James was sitting next to her, Torr across from him. Albus was sitting across from Clementine.

“In a little bit, when we aren’t surrounded by too many people,” Rose replied from Clementine’s other side.

Clementine was getting frustrated. She wanted to know already. They finished up their food, and said good-bye to Torr and James. Clementine nearly forgot about her brother when making the decision to go out with his best friend. She couldn’t spend too much time with them without looking suspicious, so she and James agreed that they should continue with their every day actions.

Clementine followed Albus and Rose out into the grounds. They found a small, secluded area, and sat on the cool stone benches that magically sprung up at their arrival.

“Okay, so please tell me about Snape, I am tired of not knowing,” said Clementine.

“Okay,” started Rose. “Well, Severus Snape was the son of Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape. Tobias was a Muggle man. Severus was disappointed by that. His mother was relieved when he showed signs of magic; she had believed that because he had a Muggle father that he would not come to posses the magic she had,” said Rose. Clementine already knew most of this, and she could not understand where Blake fit in with this.

“So,” Albus continued from Rose, “Severus went off to school. During his third year, his mother was impregnated.” Clementine gasped, but Albus continued as if she had not done so. “She gave birth before Severus returned home, and his father ran off with the child. So, Severus never knew of the brother he had.”

Clementine just stared. She could not believe what she was hearing. “Severus had a… a… a… brother?”

“Yes,” replied Rose.

“But, wouldn’t he have eventually found out? I mean, his brother would have come to Hogwarts,” she began, but Albus shook his head.

“As his brother, Tobias Snape, Jr., grew, he never showed any sign that he was remotely magical. Eileen’s fear about Severus not being magical came true with her younger son, Tobias. He was a squib.” Clementine’s eyes were wide.

“Twelve years ago, Tobias married a woman named Lillian Brooks. They had a child. They named him Blake Snape. Voila. That is the boy that presents himself here today,” finished Albus, a look of triumph on his face.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. During several moments, Clementine would open her mouth to speak, but would close it due to lack of knowing what to say. Finally, she spoke.

“That’s just… just… incredible. Did you tell your dad’s?”

“We sent a letter to them as soon as we left Teddy’s office. This is shocking, very shocking,” said Rose.

“Well, of course, Severus having a brother but not knowing--“ started Clementine, but she was cut off by footsteps they heard move behind them. Then, someone spoke.

“So, found out about me, have you,” said Blake Snape, who stepped out from behind a pillar along with Scorpius Malfoy, and a tall, thin black girl the trio didn’t recognize. They each had their wands drawn.

“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” said Albus, drawing his wand as well.

“If you don’t want any trouble, why have you all drawn your wands,” said the girl they didn’t recognize.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, your wands were drawn first. It’s only reasonable that we draw ours too, in case you provoke an attack and we have to defend ourselves,” countered Rose.

The girl threw back her head and laughed manically. The trio took a step back, somewhat afraid.

“Who told you about me, huh, Gryffindorks,” sneered Snape.

“Who cares? You can’t do anything to us,” said Albus with a brave attempt.

“Well, what say you, Snape, Zabini,” ask Scorpius, and before they could reply Scorpius shouted, “Furnunculus!”

At the same exact time, Albus shouted “Expelliarmus!” Clementine shouted, “Flipendo!” and Rose shouted “Protego!”

Scorpius, Blake, and the Zabini girl were thrown backwards by the power of the three spells shot at them. Rose’s shield charm blocked the boil jinx Malfoy had sent their way. They heard footsteps moving toward them so they hurriedly stowed their wands into their robes, and made to leave.

“Oi, what’s going on here,” someone shouted, and seconds later it turned out to be Torr. James closely followed. He looked at Clementine and rushed up to her.

“Oh my god, are you okay,” he said, Albus looking at them curiously.

“I’m fine, but I’m over here,” said Albus, dusting himself off.

“Oh… right…” said James, forgetting that his relatives were there. He helped Rose dust herself off.

“What just happened,” cried Torr, who was standing by the three stirring Slytherin’s.

“Malfoy tried to attack us, so we defended ourselves,” said Clementine.

“Well, we better get out of here before someone else comes running over,” he replied. The five of them rushed away, not turning back to see if the Slytherin’s had woken up.

They went back into the castle. On their way to Gryffindor tower, they bumped into Viktorya, Gordon, and Dane.

“I see you’re hanging out with them again,” said Albus addressing Dane.

Dane simply nodded. He looked raggedy and shaggy again. Rose was avoiding his eyes.

“What is your—“ started Clementine but she stopped herself in mid sentence. Her eyes slid out of focus, her hand was held in the air slightly above her waist. The group just looked at her.

“What is your what, exactly,” asked Gordon, looking stung as if what she said offended him.

Clementine’s eyes came back into focus.

“Oh sorry, just thought of something I can use in my homework,” she said, though she was staring at Dane.

“Well, what were you originally going to say,” demanded Gordon.

Clementine was starting to like Gordon less and less.

“It doesn’t matter now. I need to talk to Rose. Privately.”

Rose looked shocked, Albus was taken aback.

“Me? Alone? But, why,” she asked.

“Just come.” Clementine grabbed her arm and they marched away.

“What is this about,” asked Rose, yanking her arm away from Clementine.

“On Wednesday, when we went to see Teddy to find out about Snape, we saw Dane. You said, ‘It’s obvious’, and at the time I had no idea what you were talking about. But now… He’s…” But Clementine didn’t have to finish. Rose nodded.

“I was wondering when you were going to string it together. I figured you knew before the rest of us. But when I mentioned it, you looked clueless,” she said.

“And he keeps looking at you because he knows you know,” said Clementine, and she was surprised to see Rose flush.

“Well, possibly,” she said, looking embarrassed.

“He likes you,” shouted Clementine before she clapped her hand over her mouth.

“Shhhh…” cried Rose, redder than ever. “Don’t say anything more about it. He kind of frightens me. Look, we better get back up to the common room. Albus is going to have a fit if we leave him in the cold.”

“Do you think we should tell him,” Clementine asked.

“No. We shouldn’t say anything. It’s Dane’s secret. If I thought he wanted people to know, I would have told both of you,” Rose replied.

“Right,” said Clementine, “But what do we tell Albus?”

“Lucky for us, he is pretty gullible. Lets just tell him you thought you had a break-through with a potion so you wanted to run it by me before you showed it to Professor Slughorn.”

“And, if he asks why I wanted to ask you specifically,” Clementine asked.

“Easy. Just tell him that you wanted to surprise him, but it didn’t happen the way you thought it would,” Rose finished.

They reached the common room. Fortunately for them Albus bought their story.

“Too bad it didn’t work,” he said, frowning.

Rose and Clementine exchanged guilty faces.

They decided to skip lunch. An owl rapped on the window of the common room. Rose, noticing that it was a Daily Prophet owl, opened it and dropped the knuts into its pouch and untied the newspaper.

“Anything,” asked Albus, peering up at her while she unfurled it.

Her eyes were moving swiftly across the pages, turning them with several glances.

“Oh goodness,” said Rose, folding up her paper quickly and putting it away.

“What do you mean by that,” asked Albus.

“Well, it just said that Rita Skeeter would be visiting Hogwarts next week,” she said, avoiding their gaze.

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I hope you enjoyed that! Thank you for reading! :albus3: As always, comments are appreciated!

Stef, that was so good! I loved your explanation of who the Snape boy is. I wish Albus could have been included in on who Dane is though, and not lied to, but that's just me. It's your story, and I'm sure your reason Rose gave was ok. I'm just afraid of the hurt down the road if Albus finds out. urg!!!!!!!! You are too good at this!:xd: Yea!!!!! At last! :lol: :gasp: Great post Stef, watching for your next.

Ohhhh Wonder what Dane is...i have a hunch though :D
Ohhh Snape had a brother....ahhh great twist!!
I dislike the Slytherins...but loved the little fight
Awww James and Clementine....soooo cute!!!
Ohhhh Rita coming....that's very bad!! i can tell!!
Ohhh Cant wait for more
xx

Snape had a brother..... I like it! PAMS!

I know. I felt bad as I was writing it... He'll find out in due time though. :)

:shifty: I think the next part should be pretty interesting.

:D

Thank you all for reading! I am so very happy you are enjoying it!

Pretty Interesting??? Ohhhh its making me want to read it now!!!
Cant wait for more!!!
x

hey! new reader!! I just finished reading all the chapters. I really like the way you write, enjoyed it very much. congratulations!!
please please please post more chapters!!

Ahhh! Yay! I love new readers! Thank you soooooooo much for reading them! Makes me feel like this: :happy: I'm working on the next chapter as I type this...

Yayyy!
It's so cute(:
To see the desendants. I still can't get over them.
*Squeals*
Tobias Snape, Jr.
Hmm.. Interesting.
Pams!

~Courtney<

Thank you! :D
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Okay. I finally finished chapter 14. Took me forever. I have a lot of writing to do for my classes, so I haven't had as much time to work on this. But here you go. The fanfic itself is almost done. I'm only going up to chapter 20. Enjoy!
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Chapter 14: The Potter Problem

Albus had a hard time paying attention in class. Ever since he heard Rita Skeeter was coming to Hogwarts, he hadn’t been able to eat, sleep, or even think properly.

“Well, it won’t do yeh any good ter dwell on it,” said Hagrid, on an abnormally warm day. Rita Skeeter would be arriving tomorrow.

“I just can’t shake the feeling that she is going to wreak havoc on my family,” Albus said sadly.

“It’s in her nature. Yer father never told yeh what she did ter me,” he asked gruffly, clearly remembering something very unpleasant.

James, who had come down with them, looked up at Hagrid imploringly.

“You mean when she wrote about you being half giant,” he asked. Hagrid merely shook his head and refilled their mugs with fresh yarrow tea.

“The best thing yeh can do it save yer dignity. Don’t let that foul witch keep yeh down,” he finished. They sat in silence for a few moments.

“Yes, I guess you’re right, Hagrid,” said Albus silently.

They said good-bye to Hagrid, and left without another word.

“Just don’t give Skeeter any motive to pick on you,” said Clementine, hoping to pick Albus’ spirit up.

“I already have. I’m Harry Potter’s son, in case you haven’t noticed,” he snapped.

“Hey now, I’m just as much Harry’s son as you are. Besides, I’m older, more talented, and on the Quidditch team. There is no doubt about the fact that she is going to want to pick on me,” replied James. “You don’t see me squirming about. Just relax. If she writes a bunch of lies, at least we’ll know the truth.”

* * *

Albus was fidgety all morning. He knocked over his orange juice during breakfast, and collided with a group of sixth-year Slytherin’s on his way to flying class.

“This is a mess,” he cried, his book bag drenched in ink from the bottles that broke during the collision.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll ask Professor Bell to clean it up for you,” said Rose, as they crossed the lawn.

“Wait, James showed me something the night we had detention,” said Clementine. She whipped out her wand and said, “Tergeo!” The ink was completely gone.

“What about the broken bottle,” he asked.

Rose rolled her eyes, pulled out her wand and said, “Take out the broken pieces.”

Albus reached into his bag and pulled out the large pieces of broken glass. Rose pointed her wand at them and said “Reparo!”

They reached the Quidditch pitch to find Professor Bell in a very deep conversation with a blonde witch Clementine didn’t recognize right away. Albus gasped. The two women stopped talking.

“Right,” Professor Bell said, as the rest of the class gathered around. “This here is Rita Skeeter.” She had a slight look of disgust on her face. Rita Skeeter seemed not to notice. “Some of you may know her. She is an ex-reporter of the Daily Prophet, and is now an authorized biographer.”

“Now, now. I’m not an ex-reporter. I still write for the Witch Weekly occasionally,” Rita Skeeter said.

Some of the students clapped, others looked nauseous. Albus turned a brilliant shade of green.

“Ms. Skeeter has asked kindly if she could sit in on today’s lesson. I have agreed. So, please, represent me well,” Professor Bell finished.

Students glanced at their neighbors with nervous faces. Albus’ face turned chalk white.

“She is going to be watching?” Albus whispered.

“Looks like it,” said Rose.

“Well class, you know the procedure. Grab your brooms and take to the sky. I just want to observe today, and Ms. Skeeter would as well.”

The class moved at once, each seizing a broom. Rita Skeeter and Professor Bell each took a broom too, and automatically zoomed into the air, hovering about twenty feet from the ground to observe the first years. Albus, Rose, and Clementine mounted their brooms and pushed off of the ground. The air whipped through their hair as they flew higher and higher. Clementine noticed Rita’s eyes on the three of them. She had taken a note pad out of her shoulder purse and an acid green quill was magically hovering over it, darting back and forth.

“She’s watching us,” Clementine yelled over the rushing air to Rose and Albus.

Rose nodded and Albus turned green again. His broom gave a nasty lurch as his confidence plummeted and he was bucked off. Instinctively, he raised his arms and caught a hold of the handle, and was dangling from the broom like bait for a shark.

“Oh no,” said Rose, tilting her head to the side and considering what to do. Clementine wasted no time in thinking as she raced her broom right under him.

“Albus, hang on, okay?” she asked. She moved gently upward just so that Albus’ feet touched the back of her broom. “Jump, Al. Trust me.”

She heard him gulp. Albus closed his eyes and released his hands from his broom. He fell right onto Clementine’s broom, which sunk slightly due to the extra weight.

“Whew. That was close,” said Albus, who wrapped his arms around Clementine’s waist as they descended toward the ground. Rita Skeeter’s eyes were on them hungrily. They heard Professor Bell’s whistle, so they put their brooms away, and began to head back toward the castle.

“Potter. Excuse me, Potter,” Rita Skeeter called after them. Albus turned around. Clementine and Rose mimicked him.

“What do you want,” asked Albus hoarsely.

“I would just like to give you a small interview. It’s for a book I plan on publishing very soon. Would you be so kind as to help me,” she said with a twisted smile.

“No he wouldn’t, you bloody old cow. Get out of our face,” said Clementine, narrowing her eyes and wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“Oh, and who are you my dear,” Rita asked, giving her a look just as nasty.

“Please, just leave us alone. We aren’t interested in helping further your career,” said Rose shrewdly, and she turned Clementine and Albus around to continue their walk to the castle.

“Oh, now I recognize you. Your mother gave me quite a bit of problems back in her Hogwart’s days,” she yelled after them, but they continued forward as if they had not heard her.

Rose rolled her eyes and said, “Mother said not to get involved with her. She made everyone that was reluctant to help her, look bad. Don’t perpetuate it.”

“So, did she ever register herself as an animangus?” asked Albus.

“Yes. She didn’t want anyone else being able to black mail her, so she just did it. Not many people know still, though,” said Rose.

They reached the Great Hall, and made their way to the Gryffindor table. They took a seat next to James and Torr.

“Did you see Rita Skeeter yet, little bro,” James asked, noting Albus’ disgruntled face.

“Shut up, James,” said Clementine, smacking his arm. He stopped immediately.

“Come on, sis. You have to admit, it’s a little bit funny seeing Al react this way,” said Torr trying to defend his best friend.

“There is nothing funny about it,” Rose said, raising her voice. “That woman is foul, and is looking for anything to make your family look bad. And you know it, James! Your brother almost died today!”

James looked shocked.

“Don’t exaggerate, Rose. He wouldn’t have died,” said Clementine, slightly bemused.

Albus turned red as everyone in the vicinity that heard Rose moved to look at him. He just took a swig of pumpkin juice and said, “I’m going back up to the common room for a bit.” He pulled on his tie to loosen it from his neck.

“I’ll come with you,” said Rose, getting to her feet and following Albus out of the Great Hall.

Clementine sighed, and finished eating. She said bye to Torr and James, and was on her way up the grand staircase when someone grabbed her hand and whispered into her ear.

“Follow me.”

She turned around to see no one, but then figured James was under his invisibility cloak. He tugged her out onto the grounds and into the same secluded area that she had found out about Snape’s brother.

“What are you doing, James,” she asked, laughing and they took a seat on the magically appearing bench. He whipped off the invisibility cloak and planted a kiss onto her lips.

FLASH.

“What the—“ started James, but was cut off by another flash of blinding light.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here,” a malicious voice asked, and moments later the big blonde head of Rita Skeeter poked out from behind the pillar. A short cameraman was standing right next to her.

Clementine groaned; James looked slightly abashed.

“Harry Potter’s eldest son snogging a little first year girl. How pleasant,” she smiled vindictively.

“And what are you going to do about it,” said Clementine jeeringly. James put up his hand to quiet her; he knew this was going to cost them.

“Why are you taking pictures of us,” he said, trying to sound confident.

“Lets just say, I think the witch’s that read Witch Weekly will find this enjoyable. That is, unless you wish to do something for me in return,” Rita said airily as if she wasn’t really trying to black mail an offspring of Harry Potter’s.

“And what’s that,” asked James.

“Well, your little brother refused to give me an interview earlier. Why don’t you do the honor instead,” she said, in what was supposed to be a sweet voice.

“Forget it. Get out of our face,” James said, and he grabbed Clementine’s hand and marched back up to the castle.

“Father is going to go ballistic when he finds out about this,” he said.

“You mean us?” Clementine asked. James looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

“Of course not us. When he finds out that that horrible Skeeter woman was allowed on these grounds. What is McGonagall playing at, letting her come here?” he added the last part with pure bitterness in his mouth.

“Don’t blame me,” said an unexpected voice behind them and as they spun around, they saw McGonagall’s old lined face eyeing their joined hands curiously.

“But you have the authority to banish people from the grounds,” said Clementine shocked to see the headmistress.

“Of course I do. And I tried. But Kingsley said that without proper cause, I couldn’t simply banish Skeeter from the grounds because she is an unpleasant woman. She poses no danger to the students, so therefore, cannot suffer consequence,” she replied, and she seemed sincerely irked. “Harry, Ron, and even Hermione pleaded with Kingsley, but he follows the rules fair and square. She can stay here as long as she doesn’t try to harm anyone.” And with that, McGonagall walked away, mumbling to herself. Clementine thought she heard her say something about losing her job if she harmed the pest.

“Well, I guess the only thing we can do is hope she doesn’t publish that picture,” said James. They unraveled their fingers from each other’s as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Plato,” said James, and the Fat Lady swung open to let them in.

Albus was sitting in the large chair next to the fire. Rose was on the arm of it, patting his back in a comforting manner. Clementine approached them, and helped Rose with trying to comfort Albus, even though she thought she deserved comforting too.
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There you go! I hope you enjoyed! Please stay tuned for Chapter 15: The Slithering Surprise! :albus3: As always, comments are most definitely appreciated!

First to post!!

Amazing!!
Dumb Rita Skeeter...
She makes everyone look bad.
Pams!
~Courtney~

She really does... She is definitely my least favorite character, next to Umbridge. Lol. Thanks for reading! :)

P.S. I <3 Panic! At The Disco! I share my birthday with Ryan Ross! :love:

Now I am insanely jealous(:
I lovveh Ryann!
<3
He's too darn cutee!

And Umbridge.
*Shudders*
I no likey her.

Rita Skeeter... like it... nice... PAMS!

Hey Steph, just got around to commenting. I feel so badly for them that that bug had to fly into their lives. What an annoying insect she is! I wish she could get accidently stepped on sometime when she is her beetle self. But anyway, a very creative way to put more excitement into your story. Good job, and I"m anxious to read how the article and the picture stirs up trouble. Harry won't be happy to learn how Albus could have been seriousl hurt in flying class. But, what can he do? Anything he does will give her enough room to get her foot in the door. But, Harry's clever, he'll think of something. I'll be waiting for your next post, and good luck with your assignments.

Ohhh GREAT chapter!!!
I loved it!
I dislike Rita..how could she!!! I think she sould learn to leave other people's buinesses alone!!!
OH NO!! that picture cant go into the prophet....noooooo
Cant wait for more
x

I hate Rita soooooo much!!
Poor Albus, he is so cute! he reminds me a little bit of young Neville, everything happens to him haha, poor thing! I just want to hug them :)
Excellent chapie!

Hey guys! Sorry I'm taking so long. I have so many writing assignments for school coming at me and I have to come up with a 13 page short story for my introduction to writing fiction class in two weeks... Flustered!!!

Anyway, just wanted to say that I will (hopefully) have the chapter up by the end of the weekend... I will try to finish it ASAP...

I appreciate all of your comments! You guys always make my day! :D

Sweet Stef! :loved: :glomp:

Hey Stef,don't worry about us, take care of your schoolwork! SS comes after the real things in life Stef. Do you have any idea what you want to write about? If you don't, just get a newspaper and pick something from it like you was going to do a current event for class. Remember those? But don't stop with the who, what, where, why, when, and how, create your story from that and go on. Just remember, don't use anybody's names and change up the situation a bit so you don't get sued.:shifty: :xd:

Don´t worry!! be happy... I mean, don´t worry about us, your homework is way more important than this

hurray!

Thank you!

:loved: Thank you so much, Stef! :)

Yes, I do have an idea, its just kind of hard to expand on it at the moment... I'm trying! :) Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it!

Thank you! :D
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I finished Chapter 15. Figured I should just finish it to get to some crazy things that is going to be coming up (since it's almost the end :D ) in the next few chapters! I hope you enjoy!
__________________________________________________ _________
Chapter 15: The Slithering Surprise

The next few weeks seemed much less chaotic without Skeeter poking around. Albus was at ease, and was reassured that Skeeter’s visit was nothing but a scare tactic. Nothing had been published in the Daily Prophet, and Ginny even wrote him a letter explaining that no stories from Skeeter would be published in that paper. Rose seemed less assured. She kept debating about whether or not to subscribe to Witch Weekly in case Skeeter decided to publish there. She finally decided not too.

“It seems like a waste of money, really, and we could probably just find out from someone else,” she said at lunch. Albus groaned. They were sitting at the Gryffindor table, next to Torr and James, shoveling food into their hungry mouths. James and Torr were talking animatedly to themselves about what they planned to do that afternoon in Hogsmeade. James kept glancing guiltily at Clementine.

Clementine’s mind wandered. She couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if Albus, Rose, and Torr found out about her and James. She thought of Viktorya and Gordon gloating about knowing all along. She hadn’t seen much of her sister, as of late. She figured that Viktorya and Gordon were shut up in the library or common room working on their piles of homework.

James said goodbye to them as he and Torr got up to make their way to Hogsmeade. Without paying attention, Clementine waved at them, and watched them strut out of the Great Hall. She went back to her thoughts as she slowly ate a baked potato. Suddenly, a loud voice booming throughout the Great Hall tore Clementine from her mind.

“Where are the love birds?” shrieked Erin Zabini, the black Slytherin girl that was with Snape and Scorpius. They were looking toward Albus, Rose, and Clementine. Clementine noticed a newspaper in Erin’s hand, and she felt her stomach clench.

“No,” she whispered to herself. Albus and Rose heard her, and looked at her with shocked faces.

“What’s going on, Clem?” Rose asked, her eyes moving from Erin to Clementine’s.

“Where is your boyfriend, huh, Higter?” asked Zabini, waving the newspaper in front of Clementine’s reddened face, laughing manically. The Slytherin’s behind her looked smug, several others were laughing. Zabini had caught the attention of many of the others around them. Several students were craning their heads to get a good look at what was going on, others were pointing at newspapers they had in their hand to show their neighbors. Viktorya, Gordon, and Dane rushed over to her, wondering what was going on.

“What is the meaning of all of this,” demanded Gordon. Viktorya punched his arm; he scowled.

Clementine snatched the paper away from Zabini. The Slytherin’s left the table, laughing and jeering on their way back to the Slytherin table. Clementine tried to stuff the paper out of sight before anybody could pester her, but Gordon grabbed it before it disappeared into her pocket.

“Give that back,” she yelled, trying to take it back.

“Oh, I see. Trying to hide something,” he jeered at her, Viktorya looking annoyed. Clementine hid her face in her arms, and tried to storm from the table but Rose and Albus sat her back down. Gordon’s eyes widened, and his frown turned into a mischievous smile as he peered at the Witch Weekly newspaper.

“What is it?” Albus asked, still looking shocked at Clementine’s sudden behavior.

“Well, I’m guessing you would all like to take a look at this,” said Gordon, and he threw the paper onto the middle of the table. Albus and Rose reached for it at the same time, but Rose grabbed it first. They looked at it together and their mouths fell open.

“Can we talk?” Viktorya asked Gordon. She looked murderous.

“Um, okay,” said Gordon, nervously. He followed Viktorya out of the Great Hall.

“Clementine!” shouted Rose, but Albus nudged her to keep her voice down. Clementine looked up, eyes bloodshot, tears streaking her face.

Rose threw the newspaper into Clementine’s hands, and then she and Albus marched out of the great hall without another word. Clementine looked at it and saw the headline.

Puppy Love or Potter Love? By Rita Skeeter

She noticed the picture of her and James kissing, and couldn’t look anymore. She let out a sob, then threw the paper down to the table and stormed up the staircase and out of sight.

* * *

Clementine didn’t leave her bed for the entire weekend. Rose said nothing to her. The toast on her bedside table the house elves brought grew stale and moldy from being untouched. It was finally Monday morning, and classes were starting again. Clementine sat up in bed, looking extremely miserable. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy; her nose was red from blowing it so much. A half full glass of water sat on the table next to her. She drank the rest and stood up to brush her tangled hair. After pulling on her school robes, she left the girls dormitory.

“Clem,” said James, as Clementine entered the common room. He held out a large bar of chocolate. “I got this for you from Honeydukes. I wanted to give it to you when I got back from Hogsmeade, but I couldn’t find you.” She shot him a dirty look, and continued walking. “Listen, we need to talk about this,” he said.

Clementine did not meet his eyes. She noticed Torr sitting grumpily in one of the large chairs near the fireplace. She pushed James out of the way, and left the common room before he could say anything else. She walked through the corridors, and down the stairs. Every student she passed eyed her, some were whispering furiously to their neighbors. Clementine tried her best to ignore it. As she entered the Great Hall, many of the students already sitting at the tables broke out in wolf whistles, others in silent giggles; some just whispered. She just sat at the table and poured herself some orange juice. It stung the back of her throat as it went down. She was hungry, but could only muster eating a small piece of toast.

Albus, Rose, Torr, and James arrived at the table. James’ arrival was also met with the eruption of the students in the hall. He ignored them and sat next to Clementine. Albus, Rose, and Torr sat away from them, obviously still furious with the pair of them.

“Look,” started James, as he poured himself some pumpkin juice. Noticing that she was listening, he continued. “We can work through this. I know Albus and Rose aren’t speaking to you at the moment, but give it time. They’ll come through. Torr has for me.” Clementine pressed her face into his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her to console her.

“I better get going, James. My class starts soon.” She planted a kiss on his cheek, took one last sip of her orange juice and left the table. Her arm brusquely brushed Albus’ back. He didn’t even acknowledge it.

As she made her way up the grand staircase toward the Charms classroom, she noticed Dane walking by himself in the same direction.

“Hey!” she called out toward him. Dane jumped, startled.

“Oh, hey Clementine. How are you doing?” he asked her nervously.

“I’m fine. Look, I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while but I haven’t been able to get you alone. Do you mind; before class?”

“Um, yeah, I guess. Sure,” he said, not altogether truthfully.

Clementine heard footsteps behind them, so they quickened their pace and found the first empty classroom in the corridor. They took a seat near the door.

“What’s this about?” Dane asked. Clementine sensed he knew what she was going to say.

“Okay, this may not be easy for you to hear. I know what you are,” she said, looking him right in the eye. He looked away and sighed.

“I knew it. Rose knows too, doesn’t she? That’s why she is afraid to look at me!” he said. He seemed upset at this.

“No! Rose only looks away from you because she thinks you like her! She does know you’re a werewolf, but she doesn’t care about that!” Clementine said, looking defiant.

“I’m not a full werewolf,” Dane replied, his cheeks burning red. “My dad was one, my mum wasn’t. They didn’t know what would happen when my mum gave birth to me. They looked over me at St. Mungo’s for a while and found out that I only transform some of the time. I’m like a living bomb. I never know which full moon I’ll become the horrible beast!” he said with bitterness in his voice. Clementine just looked at him with solace in her eyes. Suddenly, her problems seemed laughable.

“I… I…” she stammered, but he cut her off.

“I’ve been asking Professor Lupin all the question’s I could since he suffers from the same condition. I am given the Wolfsbane potion every cycle. I was so unnerved when I heard about your mother.”

He met her eyes. She felt a pang in her stomach. She hadn’t thought of her mum in a long while. However, at that moment, the door flew open. Albus and Rose barreled into the room, and looked at them. Clementine, not wanting any more trouble from them, left the room without another word. Albus looked at Dane, and then at Rose.

“Did you know? About him?” he asked her. She looked at him, shocked.

“Yes, I did,” she replied. Albus looked betrayed. He stormed from the room without a second glance.

Noticing that she was by herself with Dane, she blushed. “I should, um, get going. Class.” She made to leave, but Dane jumped up from his seat and grabbed her hand.

“Wait, please,” he said, and he kissed her full on the mouth.

“What the—“ said a voice from outside of the room. Snape appeared at the doorway, and he prepared to curse Dane. Noticing this, Dane broke away from Rose who looked dumbfounded, and he left the room.

“Are you okay?” Snape asked Rose. His greasy hair helped hide his reddening cheeks.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” she said, looking relieved that nothing worse happened, and that Dane was no longer embracing her.

“I heard he was a werewolf. I didn’t want him to attack… you,” he said, now redder than ever.

Rose looked angry. “Look, just because he is a werewolf, well half-werewolf really, doesn’t mean he is going to attack everyone he see’s,” she shot a furious look at Snape.

“Of… of course not,” he stammered. “What class do you have next,” he asked abruptly.

Taken a back, she answered, “Charms. Why do you care?”

“How about I walk you there?” he asked politely, and he held out an arm to lead her out of the classroom. She smiled and took it graciously; they stepped out into the busy corridor together.
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Thank you all for reading! :albus3: Comments appreciated! I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day! :hvday:

This is what I have to say to you Stef!!!!!!!!! You are getting better and better and better everytime you write. Honestly if you keep this up I'd like to see what other fanfics you could write after this one if your still interested. *claps*

Hey Stef, I'm glad to see your posted. Poor Clementine and James. It's sad their friends wasn't supportive of them. I feel badly for Clementine staying shut up and crying in her bed all that time. I don't know why the others have such a difficult time with it though. I'm glad though that Rita didn't publish Albus's near brush with injury when he fell off his broom. Is this the Prof. or the boy? And it's puzzling that either one of them would be generous to Rose. Oh, and I'm glad Clementine was sweet to James in the great hall. It was sweet of him to buy that chocolate bar for her. It sounds good, I want some. Great post, Stef. I'll be watching for your next one. Good luck with your writing assignment.

It´s great Stef! PAMS PAMS
This story is getting better than ever, I can´t wait to know more.
who is Rose going to choose? Snape? Dane? uh...