The Name in Red **COMPLETE**

Hello again! Here is chapter 6! Thank you once again for the reviews, they are greatly appreciated :) I must say, however, that my character's name is invented, and I didn't make it with the intention of having any anagrams within it. Sorry to disappoint you! I just wanted to invent 'neat-sounding' name, and Sarah Garrend was what I came up with! I am, however, extremely flattered that my story and character inspired enough curiosity for you to try and search for anagrams.

I hope you enjoy chapter 6!


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The Name in Red.

Chapter 6: Midnight Connection.
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For some reason, Snape had been caught slightly off guard by the girl's thank-you and her proximity to him. Having not been entirely focused as he Apparated them, they ended up on the opposite side of the castle than he had intended, just inside the Forbidden Forest. They would have to take a bit of a walk to get back around to the school's entrance. Not bothering to explain what had happened, he began to walk, though at a significantly less hurried pace than he had been all morning. Sarah followed after him quietly.

Some of the day's cloudiness had cleared up, and the sun was occasionally peeking out from time to time. It was still quite chilly, but it had warmed up a bit, and Sarah found that she was very comfortable in her new robes. As they walked, the wind picked up and was gusting gently. Sarah, following Snape closely, could see the large scar on the right side of his neck as the wind blew his hair back. Noticing that he had relaxed his pace, she moved to walk next to him. She half expected him to speed up again to get away from her, but was pleased when he did not. They walked alongside each other in silence. Snape's eyes were fixed on the castle as they approached it, and he did not see the girl casting surreptitious glances at his neck.

After a time, she cleared her throat quietly. His black eyes darted to her for a split second and then shifted back ahead.

"What gave you that scar on your neck?" she asked quietly. She really didn't even expect him to reply.

Snape's eyes darted to the girl at his side again, rasing an eyebrow at her. He then looked back ahead. Several moments of silence passed.

"I'm sorry," Sarah said quietly. She directed her eyes downward to her feet as she walked along, blushing slightly. She thought that she had overstepped whatever bounds there were between them, and asked him too personal a question.

Sighing resignedly, Snape entertained the girl's curiosity.

"I was bitten by a snake," he replied.

Sarah's eyes widened when Snape had answered. She glanced back up at the scar on his neck, looking astonished. To her, it looked more like he had been bitten by a bear, at least.

"That must have been one hell of a big snake!" she exclaimed. She then looked as if she were nervously scanning the ground around them as they walked. "I didn't think there even were snakes here."

Snape smirked, observing the girl's actions.

"It was quite large, yes," he replied, recalling Nagini. "I was very nearly killed." Snape hoped that she would not continue asking questions about it; it would require too much effort and too long a story that the girl would not understand. He knew that the girl wouldn't have the faintest idea who Voldemort had been, or be able to understand how a phoenix's tears had saved him from the brink of death.

Thankfully for him, a distraction came in the form of several figures in the distance flying on brooms. This little walk of theirs had taken them near the Quidditch pitch. Sarah gasped when she saw them. She had no idea what they were doing, but they were flying through the air at high speeds, making graceful dives and pulling up again. She then wordlessly looked to Snape for an explanation.

"Brooms," he replied. "And they're playing Quidditch, a wizard's sport played on brooms," he supplied, anticipating her next question. "Each of the school's Houses has a team. And please refrain from asking me how it is played. It would take far too long to explain."

They continued to walk in silence, almost at the school. Sarah continued watching the Quidditch players with interest. After a while, she turned to Snape again.

"You're a Professor," she commented idly. Snape smirked and was about to compliment the girl on her brilliant powers of deduction when she asked, "What do you teach?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," he replied.

Sarah nodded a couple times in reply. She was fairly certain that she could safely assume what that subject was without any prior knowledge. He certainly does seem to be the right person to be teaching people to defend themselves from dark stuff, she thought to herself.

When they had reached the castle, Snape proceeded to lead the girl back up to the hospital wing, where he knew Minerva would be waiting for them.


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High up above the Quidditch pitch, Harry was circling around, keeping an eye on the rest of his team as they ran drills below him. Quickly growing bored of their repetitive movements, Harry braked in the air. He let his eyes wander across the landscape; they widened when they fell upon a pair of people walking toward the school, passing near the pitch. Thinking it strange for a pair of people to be walking out of the forest and up toward the school in the middle of the day, Harry dropped his altitude a bit to get a closer look. Squinting, he was able to make out the forms of Snape, and a girl with very long hair walking beside him.

"Snape?" he said aloud to himself. "What's she doing with Snape?"

Harry lowered his altitude a little more, getting an even closer look. It was the girl that he had seen in the hospital wing yesterday, as he had already assumed. Instead of Muggle clothing, however, she was now dressed in a pair of casual robes and carrying a bag at her side. Snape was dressed in his usual black attire with a traveling cloak over his robes, his lank black hair blowing slightly in the wind.

Harry had still been wondering about the girl who hadn't recognized him, and he wanted to find out why. Using the Marauder's Map, he was able to find out that her name was Sarah Garrend, but any more than that he did not know. It now looked as if she had gone somewhere with, of all people, Snape. If she were truly quite injured, or suffering from some sort of memory loss as Hermione had suggested, Harry doubted that Madam Pomfrey would have allowed her to leave the hospital wing. He watched them curiously until he lost sight of them.

Still staring out into the distance, Harry thought to himself. He was curious to find out more about this girl, and to find out why she hadn't known Harry Potter when she had seen him. He doubted that there was a single witch or wizard alive anywhere who didn't know his name and his scar, especially after having defeated Voldemort for good. There's only one way to find out more, he thought. He would ask her himself. Turning back toward his teammates, he decided that his precious Hallow had been gathering far too much dust lately, and that it was time to put it to use again.


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Professor McGonagall was indeed awaiting their arrival in the hospital wing, as Snape had assumed. She was pleased to see that the girl now looked like a witch instead of a Muggle. Hurrying inside to greet her, Sarah had set her bag full of clothes down on her bed and began rattling off excitedly about everything she had seen while in Diagon Alley. Snape remained standing near the doors and folded his arms over his chest. McGonagall had glanced at him when she had found out that Sarah had been allowed a short stop inside the joke shop, one side of her mouth curled up in a little smile. Snape glared.

"Yes, dear," said McGonagall, laughing a little and trying to calm the excited girl, "I assure you I that have seen goblins before, and even Apparated! Now, did you get a wand?"

Sarah nodded and drew her wand out from inside her robes.

"The man at the shop said it was ten and a half inches, oak and chimaera scale," said Sarah, holding her wand out to McGonagall. She took it in her own hands, inspecting it.

"Excellent," said McGonagall, looking the wand over. "Now we come to the issue of using it, which I am afraid you do not know how to do." She handed the wand back to Sarah, who nodded sadly.

"Don't worry, dear. We can soon fix that. Severus?" McGonagall called. Snape moved away from the doors and approached the two.

"Yes, Minerva?"

"It goes without saying that Miss Garrend is far too old to first be enrolling at Hogwarts," she began. "I think, therefore, that she should be given some private tutoring, to teach her the basics of magic to an acceptable level for her age."

Snape glared darkly at her. He was about to become very, very angry if this conversation was headed in the direction he feared it was.

"As she has already said herself, she hasn't a family, and I see no reason against allowing her to stay here for a while to enable her to learn. This is, after all, a place of learning," McGonagall continued. "This is absolutely necessary if she wishes to become a part of Wizarding society."

Sarah nodded vigorously. She had absolutely no desire to return to the Muggle world now, not after all she had seen and learned, and she had barely scratched the surface. The prospect of living in the magical world seemed to present boundless opportunities to her.

"Then what do you suggest, Minerva?" Snape asked rhetorically, his voice dripping with resentment.

"As I currently have my hands quite full teaching Transfiguration as well as filling the post of Headmistress, I unfortunately cannot take on the extra responsibility at the present time," she said. She then smiled at Snape. "You, however, can."

"Can and will are two completely separate things, Minerva," Snape replied.

Sarah looked from one Professor to the other with interest.

"You will be tutoring this girl, Severus," McGonagall replied sternly. "We have already discussed the necessity of her learning to use a wand. The extra hours will of course be reflected in your salary."

Snape remained silent. There was no point in arguing with her; he had tried to do so enough times to learn when not to bother. He could tell this was one of those times. At least he would be getting a bonus for it, he thought. The girl did need to learn a lot in order to become a proper witch, and be able to integrate successfully into her new world. This included learning more much more than spells, too. He did not think the girl incapable of learning magic. Quite the opposite. This did not mean, however, that he wanted his office or study to be blown apart in the process.

"I should be able to take her at seven in the evening on weekdays," he sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Lovely," said McGonagall, smiling. She had expected him to put up more of a fight. Perhaps taking the girl to Diagon Alley had acclimated him to her presence. "Then your lessons will begin on Monday, Miss Garrend."

Sarah looked as absolutely ecstatic as a first year entering the castle for their very first time.

"In the meantime," McGonagall continued, "Tomorrow, we shall see about some more appropriate lodging for you. I don't think you would fancy the idea of living in the hospital wing. You should feel free to explore the castle and the grounds. Do not, however, explore trying to do anything with that just yet," she said, nodding at the wand in the girl's hand.

"I won't," Sarah replied. "I can't thank you enough, really. I can pay you back once I-,"

"No trouble at all, dear," said McGonagall, cutting short Sarah's offer to reimburse her. She really didn't mind at all. "It was the least I could do."

Sarah had thanked McGonagall many, many more times before she had finally left the hospital wing with Snape, promising again to see to a more appropriate place to stay. Sarah then spent the rest of the day strolling boredly around the hospital wing, twirling her wand in her fingers and wondering about the amazing things she might learn to do with it.


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Sarah awoke in the middle of the night. She had been tossing and turning restlessly. Her mind was racing with excitement and anticipation about her upcoming lessons. After lying awake for a while longer, she finally sat up. She was too restless and excited to sleep. Despite McGonagall's assurance that she could explore the castle, she had not yet left the hospital wing on her own. She had been given a good impression of the castle's size when Snape had guided her in and out of it. If she tried to explore on her own, she was almost certain that she would get herself hopelessly lost in the castle's long, winding, endless corridors and levels.

Giving up entirely on sleep, she slid out of bed. She was wearing the comfortable robes she had bought to use as pajamas, and the stone floor was cold on her feet. The hospital wing was almost completely dark. The night outside had grown to be completely clear, and pale moonlight was seeping in through the high windows. She walked a few laps around the room before coming to stand in front of the doors. Not being able to see the harm in it, she decided that she would explore the single corridor right outside in an effort to assuage some of her excitement. Pushing open one of the doors only as much as was necessary, she slipped out.

She closed the door behind her as quietly as she could, its soft creaking echoing through the hall. She then turned to face the empty corridor. It was as dark as the hospital wing had been, with the same pale moonlight coming through the windows. There was a small staircase to her left that led downward, and the corridor continued on ahead. She couldn't possibly get lost if she only went to the end of the corridor and back, she thought. She began walking slowly.

As she went, she took her time in examining some of the suits of armor that lined the wall. One of them was extremely dented, and some others had chinks in them as well. There were also several ornate-looking tapestries hanging between some of them, depicting creatures that Sarah thought only to exist in her dreams. Here though, she knew, they were probably quite real. It was completely silent except for the very faint sound of her bare footsteps on the stone.

After a few minutes, she came to a point where another corridor intersected with the one she was currently in. She glanced around, unable to tell where either might lead. She probably wouldn't even be able to find her way back out of the castle the way Snape had taken her, even if she had wanted to. Sighing and wishing that Hogwarts were not so very huge, she turned to start heading back toward the hospital wing when something caught her eye.

Quickly looking back down one of the other corridors, her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened; drifting along the hall was an almost transparent being, glowing slightly in the darkness, completely white. Sarah stood rooted to the spot as she watched the ghost. She was a tall, beautiful, sad-looking young woman in a long, flowing dress. Anyone else at Hogwarts knew better than to be frightened of the school's ghosts, save for maybe the Bloody Baron. Sarah, however, had never seen anything of the sort. Terrified as the ghost drew closer, she ran.

Sarah was now sprinting back down the corridor toward the hospital wing, quite scared by what she had just seen. Everything about the magical world was new and a bit of a shock to her, but she had adjusted well so far. She had seen a house-elf and goblins. She had not, however, been expecting to see ghosts. Her feet slapping against the stone echoed through the hall as she ran.

Before she could reach the doors, however, she collided with something quite solid and quite invisible. Gasping loudly, she fell back onto the hard stone, scrambling backwards along the floor in a panic. Being quite terrified and not knowing what else to do, she quickly reached inside her robes and withdrew her wand, slashing it through the air aimlessly in the direction of whatever she had just collided with.

Harry felt as if a solid, invisible wall of force had collided with him. Quite literally lifted off his feet, he was thrown back a small distance and landed hard on the floor, the air knocked out of his lungs. His glasses tumbled to the floor. He hadn't quite been expecting that.

"Easy!" he managed to croak out. Sitting up, he threw off his invisibility cloak and held up his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

Having been expecting another ghost, Sarah was surprised to see a young man emerge out of nothingness several feet in front of her. Still nervous, she was still sitting on the floor, holding out her wand toward him. Her hand was trembling. Harry retrieved his glasses and stood up, placing them back on his face. He then pulled out his own wand.

"Lumos," he said, pointing it in the direction of the girl.

The corridor was immediately illuminated with the strange white light that Sarah had first seen while she was lying injured on the steps of the castle. The light brought into her view the same untidy-haired young man with the lightening shaped scar that she had seen before in the hospital wing. Sarah lowered her wand as he approached her, wishing somewhere in the back of her mind that she herself knew how to produce that light.

"Sorry about that," said Harry, looking down at the frightened girl and extending his hand toward her. "Looks like I gave you a bit of a fright."

Taking Harry's hand, Sarah was lifted to her feet. She took a deep, shaky breath and dusted her robes off.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry, looking her over. He couldn't see any of the scratches or bruises that he had seen on her previously.

"Yeah, you?" asked Sarah.

"I'm alright," said Harry. "You threw me back a bit though. What were you running from?"

"I think I saw a ghost," said Sarah. She still didn't quite believe what she had seen.

Harry quirked a brow at her. She hadn't recognized his scar, and now she was frightened of seeing ghosts around Hogwarts? Something was very strange about this girl.

"How were you invisible like that?" Sarah asked. "I couldn't see you at all when I hit you. That's why I took my wand out. I was really scared. I wouldn't have if I had known someone was there."

Harry turned and gathered up the cloak from the floor.

"Invisibility cloak," he said, holding it out to her so she could feel its silky material.

"Wow," she whispered softly. After examining it for a few moments, she spoke again. "What were you doing sneaking around here? Aren't you a student?"

"Yeah, but we're not supposed to be out of our common rooms after curfew," Harry explained. "I was coming to see you, actually," he said, smiling at the girl.

Sarah looked confused.

"Come on," said Harry, "I'll explain inside. We don't want Filch to catch us. Nox." The light disappeared from his wand.

Together they walked back toward the hospital wing and entered quietly. Casting a Muffliato in the direction of Madam Pomfrey's quarters, Harry walked with Sarah toward the bed she had been staying in.

"We didn't really get to properly introduce ourselves when we met yesterday," Harry began, extending his hand toward Sarah. "Harry Potter."

Sarah shook his hand, smiling.

"Sarah Garrend," she said.

Harry watched Sarah's reaction as he told her his name; she seemed completely unfazed.

"I can tell you're not from around here," Harry said conversationally.

"You're right," said Sarah, sitting down on the side of her bed. Harry sat down on the bed opposite her, pointing his wand at the sconce on the wall above them. It lit itself and glowed dimly, giving them a little light. "I'm from America."

Harry nodded. He had already assumed this much, but it still did not adequately explain why she did not know who Harry Potter was.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm still not quite sure about that myself," Sarah replied. "I'm a bit new to all of this, I'm afraid."

Harry furrowed his brows at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I sort of just ended up here, accidentally," said Sarah. "Well, it was more luck than accident, I guess. I didn't know that I was a witch until just the other night."

Harry's eyes widened. It was extremely odd, but that would certainly explain it.

For the next fifteen minutes or so, Harry sat and listened intently to Sarah's story of being lost in the forest and set upon by Centaurs, only narrowly escaping. This would certainly explain the torn clothing, as well as the scratches and bruises that Harry had seen her with. And the fact that she hadn't known that she was a witch would certainly explain her not recognizing him and her fear of the ghost. It was, however, extremely strange.

"That's really weird," Harry said at last, "I wonder why no one ever came to you."

"Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape seemed to think it was weird too."

Sarah then proceeded to tell him of her lack of parents, Harry listening raptly. He could definitely identify with her. She told him of her childhood incident with the tree as well.

"They thought maybe they just lost track of me," Sarah explained, "Or thought I had died with my parents."

"Could be," Harry nodded in agreement, but he did not completely agree. He knew, from the sound of things, that her incident with the tree had been covered up quite well, and quite quickly. That had to mean that there were witches and wizards nearby, perhaps even watching her. That, coupled with what she had told Harry of doing, struck him as extremely odd. He had performed unintentional magic without a wand before, accidentally setting a snake on his cousin and blowing up his aunt, but never anything of the magnitude that Sarah described. He had never made a tree attack anyone, burned someone with his bare hands, or managed the seemingly impossible feat of somehow slowing time. Harry had been correct in his assumptions; there was definitely more to this girl that meets the eye.

"It's a good thing you did end up here, at any rate," said Harry, smiling at her. There was still another thing that he was quite curious about.

"I saw you walking earlier, with Professor Snape," he said, deciding to omit the words 'Quidditch practice' and 'Quidditch pitch', assuming she would not understand them. After learning the truth about his actions and seeing his memories, Harry could finally afford him the respect of calling him 'Professor Snape' instead of just 'Snape'. He had a great respect for the man now, but it wasn't as if Harry was buying him flowers. The animosity between the two still remained, and their relationship with each other had changed little.

"Oh yeah," said Sarah, smiling. "He took me to a place called Diagon Alley. That's where I got my robes and my wand."

Harry nearly snorted with laughter. He couldn't imagine a less likely person to volunteer taking a newfound witch on a shopping trip to Diagon Alley. Harry had thoroughly enjoyed his very first trip to Diagon Alley with Hagrid as his guide, nearly stopping in every shop, and taking his time to enjoy all the new sights. He could imagine what the trip probably would have been like with Snape instead of Hagrid.

"I'll bet he was a total git about it," Harry said.

"He was pretty angry about it, yeah," said Sarah. "Professor McGonagall made him take me, I think. I don't think he wanted to at all. He wasn't really so bad though. He let me borrow his cloak when I got really cold, and even let me look inside the joke shop."

Okay, Harry thought to himself, now things are getting a little too strange.

She then explained what else McGonagall had volunteered him for on her behalf. She told Harry how she would be taking lessons with him in order to learn the rudimentary magic that she should have been taught years ago. Remembering his own private lessons with the man, Harry sincerely wished her luck at this, hoping she would be more successful at being his student one-on-one than he had been. Harry knew that things would probably be fine, though; Sarah had no pre-existing enmity with him, or any knowledge of his horrid reputation.

The two continued chatting for a while. Harry explained to her about the school's ghosts, and the way the House system worked. Deciding not to overwhelm her with it, he spared her his life's story and the tales of his fame. He would have time to explain it to her later, once she had a better understanding of the Wizarding world. She might even come to learn it for herself before he told her anything.

He even gave her a quick rundown on Quidditch. Harry always enjoyed talking Quidditch. He found it amusing to explain the game to someone who had never heard of it before.

"We're playing Ravenclaw tomorrow, you should come and watch the match!" Harry told her excitedly. "Then you can really understand how it's played."

Sarah looked thrilled.

"I hope I can," she said, "Professor McGonagall said she was going to see about finding me a different place to stay tomorrow, so I don't have to stay in the hospital wing anymore."

Harry thought quietly to himself, wondering where else she could possibly stay. As far as he knew, the castle did not have any guest's quarters... unless...

"I've got just the thing," he said, sounding excited and leaping to his feet. "I'll go and see her about it tomorrow, I'm sure she'll approve."

Sarah looked at him confusedly.

"You'll see," he said simply. "Don't worry about it. And I'll have my friend Hermione take you to the match. She doesn't like Quidditch very much, but she comes to see us play. I'm sure she won't mind taking you."

Sarah smiled brightly at him. Only a little while ago, she had felt very alone and isolated in this big new place. She didn't know anyone except three of the staff members. Now that Harry had quite literally bumped into her, however, she was extremely glad to have made a friend, with the happy prospect of making more.

"Thanks a lot, Harry," she said, standing as well. "I'm really glad you came, even if you did scare the living daylights out of me at first. I'm sort of alone here."

"I understand completely, believe me," he said. He was glad that he had come as well. He had discovered why Sarah hadn't known who he was, as he had been hoping to, but now an entire new plethora of questions had surfaced. All of her circumstances were extremely strange, and he intended to find out more about it if he could. Why hadn't she been brought into the Wizarding world, when it was very clear that she must have been recognized as a witch, and even watched somehow? Why had the Centaurs, usually docile unless provoked, openly attacked her? How had she managed to perform such extraordinary magic without even intending to?

Aside from all that, however, he was genuinely glad to have met her. He was sure Ron and Hermione would be, too. Bidding his new friend goodnight, and assuring her that she would see him tomorrow, he put out the sconce and quietly left the hospital wing under his invisibility cloak.

Sarah lay awake in bed for some time after Harry had left. On top of everything else she was already excited about, she was now excited about seeing her first Quidditch match tomorrow. She was also excited about meeting Harry's friends. She reflected on how her life had changed so very drastically over the course of the last few days. She was now making new friends, she hoped, and an entire new world of fascinating possibilities had opened up to her.

She tossed and turned for a while longer, quite convinced that she was possibly too excited to ever be able to sleep again.


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A/N: There you have chapter 6! I hope you enjoyed it. More to come soon! The Quidditch match and Sarah's first lesson with Snape should be fun! Please leave a review if you would be so kind. Thank you so much for reading :)