Ava Adore

They appeared before a large set of gates. Caitriona fell to her knees and began shivering uncontrollably. The temperature of this new place was much colder, and she was wearing a sleeveless gown. The skin on her arms and shoulders turned to goose flesh. A heavy feeling of cloth descended upon her bare skin. The man had taken off his own cloak to keep her warm. She looked up at him gratefully, finally able to see his face. He was pale with an angular jaw, a leonine nose and jewel black eyes. Limp black hair framed his face. "Thank you," she whispered. "Nevermind that," he said gruffly, pulling her up by her slender arm, "I have to take you to see the headmaster."

"Mr. Fulton?" she asked, confused.

"I do not know of any Mr. Fulton, girl. You are obviously not at your school, can\'t you tell?" He had no patience for illogical damsels in distress. As they entered the gates, Caitriona looked up and realised they were indeed nowhere near Chatham. Instead, a most fabulous vision filled her eyes. It was a spectacular, gargantuan structure and Caitriona had never seen anything like it. It dwarfed all the castles in Scotland, where she had vacationed once with her family. Her family. Her parents expected her home by one o\'clock, and no later. She had no idea what time it was. She had left the formal two hours before midnight. What if her parents heard about the slaughter on the telly and thought she was one of the victims? She couldn\'t bare the thought. "I need to call my parents!" she cried.

Cait stopped in her tracks. "And you have to tell me your name. I\'m not going any further with a stranger, regardless of whether they saved my life or not." She crossed her arms. "I am a professor at this school. I am Severus Snape, but you shall refer to me as sir. I will tell you how you can contact your parents as soon as we see Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster. Now start walking before I levitate you there." She did as she was told, shocked into action by his commanding and authoritative voice.

They entered into a large and intimidating hall. Cait gasped quietly at the ornate walls and blazing torches surrounding her. "What is this place?" she whispered. "Hogwarts Castle," replied Severus smoothly. "Now follow."





Caitriona could not take such magisterial beauty on a night like this. Everything should have been cold, grey and dirty. Instead she found herself in a most heavenly-seeming room. The colour of gold pervaded her senses. She could not process all the trinkets and odd devices surrounding her. And then, standing before her, was the most odd looking man she had ever seen. He looked like Father Time. He was tall, dressed in periwinkle robes with a long white beard, his hands clasped behind his back. He was looking down at her kindly, but she still felt intimidated. The one called Severus Snape stood beside her, looking impassive and almost bored. "Dumbledore, I believe you have heard of the Rohes. This is their daughter, Caitriona."

Dumbledore regarded her curiously. "Is that pronounced as Katrina?" All she could do was nod. The power of speech seemed to have left her. She could only wonder dimly how such a man would know her parents. "Interesting," he mused quietly. He began pacing, muttering to himself as if he were alone. Snape spoke up. "She seems to be very much a muggle. I suspect her parents did their best to make sure she\'d be a squib." He spoke the last word with a disdainful sneer. Dumbledore stopped pacing abruptly and glanced sharply at him. "We do not know what she is capable of yet, Severus."

"How do you know my parents? What are muggles and squibs? Why am I here?" Her voice seemed to work again, and her questions burst forth like a dam opening. "You will recieve those answers when you are ready to know," Severus snapped impatiently. Caitriona rounded on him, her eyes brightening with anger, hurt and frustration. "I just saw my friends murdered in front of me while I cowered behind a bin like some pathetic mouse! I could have been one of them. I want to speak to my parents, I want to let them know I\'m okay. How can you not understand that?" Dumbledore watched this interaction, a sad expression overtaking his countenance. "Casualties, Severus?" The sallow man addressed Dumbledore. "Four girls. The Killing Curse. Two were taken back to Lucius Malfoy\'s manor. One had suffered the Cruciatus." The elder man shook his head. "Miss Rohe," he said, "have a seat. I will explain all that I can, to the best of my ability."

She settled into an armchair before a large desk. She pulled the heavy black cloak tight around her. She was still shivering. Dumbledore cleared his throat lightly, staring at her through his odd half-moon spectacles. "Where you are at right now is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A school for magic. Your parents attended this school, many years ago. As they became older, they became swept up in dangerous activities. Their ideals were corrupted and exploited by dangerous people. However, they finally realised the errors of their ways and enlisted my assistance. I believe it was your mother becoming pregnant with you that spurred this sudden change of heart. They wanted me to help them escape the wizarding world and live safely amongst muggles. Muggles are non-magical people. Squibs are witches and wizards whom, for whatever reason, have trouble utilising their powers. I have already contacted your parents. They should be sending word back any moment now."

Caitriona was silent for a few moments as she tried furiously to process these words. Wizards, magic, and her parents had been involved in it all? How could something so prepostorous be true? Yet she had seen for herself, hadn\'t she? She had witnessed Andrea\'s torture, the other girls\' deaths. No guns, no knives, no bombs and most disturbingly, no blood. It was almost all inhuman. Other worldly. Magical, and not in the positive sense of the word. "What dangerous people? What did my parents do?"

"I believe it is their right to tell you that, Miss Rohe," he told her somberly. Cait wasn\'t betting on it. If her parents had never told her any of this before, why would they now?

"Does this mean I\'m magical too?" she asked, remembering how Severus had more than insinuated she was one of these squib people. "That remains to be seen. Have you ever made anything unusual happen, when you didn\'t intend to? Have strange occurences seemed to stem from you?," he asked her, a note of curiosity in his voice.

"No," she replied quickly. Then, she thought over her answer, trying to remember any incident in her life that fit that criteria. "No," she said again, "not a thing." That was certainly the truth. She had always been ordinary and had never experienced anything abnormal until that night. Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "Interesting," was all he said.

A disturbance of the air around Caitriona made her look up, and what she saw nearly made her jump out of the armchair in shock. A great big owl had flown into the room. She covered her head with her arms and expected to be clawed at any moment now. Instead, there was a gentle ruffling of feathers and a soft thump as the bird landed gracefull on Dumbledore\'s desk. A rolled up piece of parchment dropped from between the owl\'s beak. Dumbledore picked it up and the bird flew back out of the room. The blonde lowered her arms, pressing one hand against a wildly beating chest. Owls. Delivering parchment. Was all of the wizarding world this absurd?

"Oh, dear," whispered Dumbledore as his eyes scanned over the letter. He looked up at Severus. "This letter is from Kingsley Shacklebolt." Caitriona stared at him, confused. "Weren\'t my parents supposed to be writing you?" Dumbledore did not answer her. Instead, he handed the letter to Severus, who in turn read it. His eyes narrowed as they travelled further down the page. "Cowards," he hissed. Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Not in front of the girl, Severus."

Caitriona dug her nails angrily into the arms of the chair. "Will someone please tell me what\'s happening?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Miss Rohe, I regret to have to tell you this...your parents are missing." She jerked backward as if she had been struck. Missing? How could two adults go missing? Two adults who were waiting for their only child to return to them? "Did those people hurt them? Who is Kingsley? Is he one of them?" She paused, then regarded them suspiciously. "Are you part of their...organisation?" Severus flinched at her question. "Kingsley Shacklebolt is an auror. The aurors are dedicated to eradicating Death Eaters...the men you saw wreaking havoc tonight. Kingsley is our ally." She felt herself on the verge of tears. "This is all too much. I cannot...I cannot take this. I want to go home."

"You are no longer safe there," said Snape.

"Anywhere\'s better than here," she shot back.

"Hogwarts is the safest place you could hope to be, you insolent child!"

Dumbledore stood. "Severus, please. Calm yourself. Miss Rohe is under a considerable amount of distress." He turned toward the troubled girl. "You will spend the night here. I assure you, you will be safe and comfortable. I could even provide you with a dreamless, sound sleep if you wish. Tomorrow, you will be taken to your home. That is a promise. Severus, would you kindly escort Miss Rohe to the guest quarters?"

They exited the headmaster\'s office in silence. It wasn\'t until they were halfway down the hall when Caitriona rounded on Snape. "What\'s going to happen to Andrea and Lana?" Severus kept walking, not bothering to look at her. "I assume you mean the young women who were not killed. Most likely, they will be tortured and killed." Caitriona blanched. "How could you say it like that?" Severus couldn\'t help but smirk, slightly. "How else should I say it? Would you prefer a lie?" She quickened in her pace to keep up with the dark man. "I didn\'t mean I wanted my feelings spared. I meant...how could you utter those words so carelessly? Do you often see girls getting abducted or killed?" Severus halted in his tracks, nearly causing Caitriona to crash headlong into him. "Yes, as a matter of fact. I do." He stared down at her, not breaking eye contact. She wanted to shrink away from his gaze, but she didn\'t. "How horrible for you, then," she said coldly. She glanced down at the black cloak still covering her. She reached down to touch an oddly sewn mark in the material when she felt something akin to an electric shock. She pulled back her hand and grimaced in pain. Severus\' expression turned from indifference to one of curiosity.

Caitriona bit her lip, then looked up to make eye contact with Snape. Her hazel eyes stared into his black ones as she said, "You\'re one of them. Aren\'t you? It\'s how you knew where they\'d be. How they operated." He continued walking, ignoring her question. She boldly reached out and grasped at the fabric of her robes. She quickly pulled back, experiencing another painful shock. She gasped in pain as something seemed to wash over her in waves. Fear, revulsion, anger, and agony. All of it alien, none of it matching what she felt inside her. It was pure, not filtered by innocence. He turned suddenly, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders. "What is wrong with you? Don\'t you trust Albus Dumbledore?"

Caitriona struggled to escape his grasp. "How can I trust anyone anymore?"

"Because you are a naive little girl."

"Trust and naivete are two entirely different things."

He let go of her. He looked almost...amused. "Using words that adults do....does not make you one." She rubbed her shoulders. "I\'m aware of that, thank you. And I might have faith that my parents are alright, but that doesn\'t mean I\'m naive or full of trust." He laughed mirthlessly. "Faith," he said, uttering the word as if it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. She stared at the strange, tempestuous man standing before her. "Have you never had faith in something...sir?"

He took a step back from her, shaking his head as if he didn\'t want anything more to do with her. "Let me make something perfectly clear to you, Miss Rohe. We are not peers. I do not have to answer your silly questions. I do not make a habit of conversing with children. Do you understand me?" She brushed past him. "Oh, yes," she whispered, "I do understand."