The Name in Red **COMPLETE**

Hello everyone! Here is chapter 7. Once again, thank you for the reviews that you have left me. I greatly appreciate it, as always. Enjoy chapter 7!!


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The Name in Red.

Chapter 7: True Colors.
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The following day, about an hour before the Quidditch match, Sarah was being led someplace within the castle by Professor McGonagall and Harry. Having been less than pleased to find out that Harry had gone to see the girl in secret, she was nonetheless glad that he had come up with a possible solution to her lodging problem. Harry had explained to her how he met the girl, and grew curious about her when she didn't know who he was. It was this that had prompted him to visit her in secret.

Through talking to Sarah, Harry now knew just about as much as McGonagall did about the entire strange situation. They had agreed between them that it was fine to tell Ron and Hermione about her, and even Ginny, but to anyone else who asked, she was an exchange student from America who had come to study at Hogwarts. That wasn't too far from the truth, after all. Harry had then explained his idea to McGonagall. Beginning to be at a loss for what exactly to do, she had approved.

The three of them arrived in the seventh floor corridor. One stretch of wall was completely blank, and the other had a large tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to ballet. McGonagall had heard of the room before, after the incident back in Harry's fifth year. Not knowing how the magic of the room worked herself, she looked to Harry.

"Alright," said Harry confidently, "Just stand back and watch. Hopefully it'll still work," Harry had been concerned that the room would no longer function after it had been ravaged by the cursed fiendfyre. Now he was going to find out.

He strode forward and paced back and forth in front of the blank stretch of wall several times. Sarah watched him, extremely confused. Harry closed his eyes, thinking hard. I need a place for Sarah to stay, I need a place for Sarah to stay, he repeated over and over again in his mind.

After only a few moments, a medium-sized, ornately carved door materialized on the blank stretch of wall. Harry turned and smiled brightly at Sarah and McGonagall. Sarah had raised her eyebrows as she inspected the newly appeared door, and McGonagall gave Harry a small smile in return. It had worked.

"Well," said Harry, motioning toward the door. "Come have a look!"

McGonagall urging her forward, Sarah slowly approached the door and placed her hand upon the knob. Turning it, she softly pushed the door open.

The door swung in to reveal a modestly sized bedroom. It was furnished quite nicely. Sarah rushed in to investigate. There was a double sized bed with a night stand beside it in the far left corner. To the right of this, there was a large book case, containing a wide array of textbooks about basic magic and other things which Sarah would need to learn about. Against the wall near the foot of the bed there was a nicely sized wardrobe, which Sarah discovered to be full of the same type of casual robes that she had bought in Diagon Alley, along with several pairs of Muggle jeans, sneakers, and the hiking boots she favored. The wall opposite the wardrobe bore a large fireplace, currently unlit, with two comfortable-looking chairs facing it.

The stone floor in the middle of the room was adorned with a large, plush carpet. In the far right corner of the room, along the same wall as the fireplace, there was another door. Sarah discovered this to lead into a small adjoining bathroom with all of the amenities she could possibly need. There were no enchanted windows within the small dormitory, but there were several brightly-lit sconces on the walls, as well as a chandelier suspended from the moderately high ceiling. They flooded the room with warm light.

Harry stepped inside after her, followed by Professor McGonagall. He was pleased to see that the room still worked. It appeared to be completely fine except for smelling faintly of ash.

"It's called the Room of Requirement," Harry explained, watching Sarah as she excitedly explored her new room. "It can become anything you need it to be, and seeing as you needed a place to stay, I thought this might be the perfect solution."

"It certainly looks like it!" Sarah replied, plopping down on the bed to test its softness. Staying here would be much nicer than staying in the hospital wing.

"Once we leave, the door will disappear, so anyone else can't just get in without knowing what's here," Harry continued. "When you want to come back, just come up to this same corridor. You'll have to pace back and forth in front of the wall where you know your room is, and think something like 'I need to get back into my room'. Just say that again and again in your head while walking back and forth in front of the wall, and the door should appear for you."

"Well done, Potter," McGonagall commented, inspecting the well-appointed room. "This certainly solves our problem. One of them, at least."

"Thanks a lot, Harry," Sarah smiled up at him.

"No trouble at all," he said. He then turned to McGonagall. "Professor, would it be alright for Sarah to come down and see the Quidditch match?"

"Of course," said McGonagall, "She is welcome to go wherever she likes. Just remember what we discussed, Mr. Potter. And please explain that to her as well."

The three of them exiting the room, Professor McGonagall headed away back toward her office. Harry began taking Sarah down a different route that would lead them down to the Quidditch pitch. Sarah was pleased to stroll through the halls at a more leisurely pace during daylight. She made sure to remember as many details as she could, and attempted to memorize the way in which they were going. She was determined not to become lost while trying to get back to where her room was. She looked over the suits of armor, trying to identify unique dents in them, and she eyed the moving portraits carefully, trying to remember their locations.

"That won't do you much good," said Harry, watching her as she observed her surroundings in an attempt to memorize them, "Not with the portraits at least. They can move around, you see. Into different portraits." He then pointed toward a portrait of a grizzly looking old wizard with an eyepatch. "That bloke there, you might see him in a completely different place tomorrow. It might just get you more lost."

"Oh no," Sarah groaned, "This place is so huge. I'm going to be so lost. I'm probably going to end up sleeping in the middle of a hallway somewhere when I can't find my way back to that nice room you fixed up for me."

Harry laughed.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It just takes some time." He decided that now was not a particularly good time to inform her about the staircases in some parts of the castle which moved to rearrange themselves occasionally, or that had trick steps which vanished as soon as someone tried to step on them. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

"What was McGonagall talking about before?" Sarah asked. "What did she want you to explain to me?"

"Oh yeah," said Harry. "I told her about how I met you, and everything you told me. I've already explained about you to my two best friends and my girlfriend, but Professor McGonagall reckons that we should tell anyone else who asks that you're just a student from America who's come to Hogwarts to study abroad. That way they won't ask too many questions about you."

Sarah nodded in understanding. She already knew that it was extremely odd for her to have turned up at Hogwarts and discovered that she was a witch. Harry also knew this to be the case, on top of all the other mysterious circumstances surrounding her.

"Your friends know, though?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've already explained it all to them," said Harry. "Don't worry, they're actually quite good at keeping secrets." Ron and Hermione, after all, had been the only two people aside from Harry that knew about the Horcruxes. He knew, as did McGonagall, that they could be trusted with just about anything. He knew he could also trust Ginny. It would have been hard to keep something like this from her, when they were all so close.

A short while later, Harry and Sarah had exited the school and began walking down toward the Quidditch pitch. There was still a bit of time before the match, and a thin stream of students had begun trickling out from the school to get seats ahead of time. Sarah looked them over as she walked. Some students were decked out in blue and bronze, while others were sporting scarlet and gold. Harry having explained the school's Houses to her, she understood that the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students were coming to the match wearing their House colors to cheer on their teams.

Noticing a small group of students wearing different colors, she turned to Harry.

"I thought the match was between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?" she asked, pointing at a group of students who were wearing green and silver.

"Oh yeah," he said, "Those will be the Slytherins. They're just here to boo us. Students from Slytherin and Gryffindor don't really get along very well. I guess you could say they're our rival House. Long story."

"That's Professor Snape's House, isn't it?" Sarah asked.

"That's the one," Harry replied, sounding dark. Sarah thought she could begin seeing why Harry seemed to not like Professor Snape very much.

"It must be a big deal when Gryffindor plays Slytherin then, I bet," she said.

"You had better believe it," Harry laughed a bit. "Vicious games, those are. This game shouldn't be so bad though. The Ravenclaws are good sports, we've got nothing against them."

Drawing closer to the Quidditch pitch, Harry pointed on ahead at two students standing some distance away, conversing with each other. They were also sporting scarlet and gold.

"There they are," Harry said, waving to them. "I told them to wait for us here. Come and meet them," he said enthusiastically, taking Sarah's shoulder and pulling her toward his friends.

The two of them turned to Harry and Sarah as they approached. Sarah could see a tall, lanky young man with bright red hair. Standing next to him was a witch with bushy brown hair, wearing a scarf of scarlet and gold, and looking much shorter by comparison. They smiled and waved to Harry, who was pulling Sarah along with him.

For the first time she could remember, Sarah was slightly nervous about meeting new people, and that was saying a lot. She had moved from place to place when she was a child, always in different schools, and had grown quite used to it. After arriving here, however, it seemed as if she had started completely fresh, and all these sensations were new to her. It seemed as if she had built a fast friendship with Harry, but she had quite literally stumbled into it by accident. She was actually a bit hesitant as Harry drew her up to where Ron and Hermione stood.

"Hey, mate," said Ron. He nodded at Harry, and then looked to the witch at Harry's side. She was slightly shorter than Harry, making her several inches shorter than himself. Her eyes were dark brown, and she had flowing brown hair, which was very long and very straight. This was quite a contrast to Hermione's bushy mane. She was dressed in casual-looking black robes which looked very much like school robes, except lacking a House crest. Despite the strange stories Harry had told about her, she seemed to be a normal enough witch, at least in appearance. She also looked a bit nervous.

"Ron Weasley," said Ron warmly, smiling, and extending his large right hand toward the girl. She extended her own and shook it.

"Sarah Garrend," she said, smiling back at him. She was happy to have received such a warm greeting, and her nerves calmed significantly.

"This is Hermione," said Ron, throwing his arm around Hermione's shoulders and hugging her close.

Hermione extended her hand toward Sarah, who shook it.

"Hermione Granger," she said, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Sarah smiled.

"Well, now that we're all introduced," Harry said. He was quite happy that his friends seemed to have received Sarah so well. "Ron and I have got to go and get changed. You girls go and find yourselves some good seats, and we'll meet you back here after the match, alright?"

Harry and Ron left after Hermione and Sarah had wished them both good luck.

"Here," said Hermione, reaching inside her robes. She then pulled out a scarf of scarlet and gold like the one she wore, though it was slightly more faded and worn. "I brought one of my old scarves for you. You will be cheering for Gryffindor, I hope."

"Of course," Sarah replied. She smiled warmly, taking the scarf and wrapping it about her neck.

"Well now you look it!" Hermione said, nodding in approval as Sarah donned the Gryffindor scarf. "You can't cheer on Gryffindor without wearing any Gryffindor colors. People might think you're a Slytherin or something."

Hermione did honestly want Sarah to cheer for Gryffindor, but this was not the only reason why she had thought it was a good idea to give her the scarf. Harry had explained Sarah's situation fully to her, or at least as much as he knew about it. Hermione, sharp as ever, immediately recognized that something was very off about the entire thing. She had agreed to tell anyone who asked that Sarah was simply a student from America studying abroad. Hermione thought that having Sarah wear Gryffindor colors was a good way to have them not even ask questions in the first place. This way, she would blend right into the crowd.

The girls continued down to the pitch, chatting away. Sarah told Hermione all about her uncouth meeting with Harry in the middle of the night, after having been frightened by one of the school's ghosts. Hermione giggled at this, the idea of anyone being frightened of the Grey Lady quite amusing to her. Sarah also told Hermione of Harry's brilliant idea to have her stay in the Room of Requirement.

"It still works, then?" Hermione asked. She had been wondering the same thing as Harry had, about whether or not the room would still function after the fiendfyre fiasco.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it?" Sarah asked, confused. "It does smell a little bit like something is burning, though."

Hermione laughed.

"Yes, it might," she said. "There was a fire in there, of sorts. Earlier this year."

"Well I'm glad it still works," Sarah said, "It sure made up a great room for me. Much nicer than having to stay in the hospital wing."

"I would think so," Hermione laughed. "Do you know how Quidditch is played?" she asked, looking up at the tall goalposts as they approached the seats.

"Sort of, yeah," Sarah replied. "Harry gave me a quick explanation of it last night. I think I got the gist of it. I can't wait to actually see it, though."

"That's a relief," Hermione said. She didn't think that she could possibly explain all the game's complicated rules and fouls.

"Hermione!" came a call from behind them.

Sarah turned around to see two witches approaching them. One of them was rather small in stature, with long red hair, and wearing a Gryffindor scarf. The other, wearing a Ravenclaw scarf, had bright blonde hair and a serene smile on her face. The blonde-haired witch had her wand tucked behind her left ear which, like its twin, was adorned with a radish.

"Hi Ginny, Luna," said Hermione, greeting them.

Ginny looked Sarah over. She had been given the same explanation about her as Ron and Hermione had, as well as the instructions to tell anyone who asked that she was simply studying abroad.

"You must be Sarah," said Ginny, smiling at the girl and shaking her hand. "Ginny Weasley."

Red hair. Weasley, Sarah thought to herself, making the connection.

"Ron's sister?" Sarah asked, smiling back. "I've just met him."

"That's right," said Ginny. "Glad you could come out to the match. I've got to go and get changed now, just wanted to say hello. Nice to meet you, Sarah," she said, waving, and then hurried off to where the rest of the team would be preparing.

"Sarah, Sarah...," said Luna, looking contemplative as she considered Sarah's name. "I've never heard of you before. My name is Luna Lovegood," she said, shaking Sarah's hand. "Are you new here?"

"I'm-," Sarah began, but Hermione got there first.

"She's a student from America, studying abroad," Hermione explained rapidly.

"Oooh, America," sighed Luna, looking at Sarah dreamily. "Daddy tells me that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are positively abundant in America, unlike here where they are quite rare."

"Erm...,"

"Look over there, Luna, I've just spotted us some excellent seats. Let's go sit down," said Hermione, diffusing the confusing situation for Sarah, and motioning toward the seats.

Sarah had an excellent time watching the Quidditch match with Hermione and Luna. Whenever she became confused, the other girls would bring her up to speed. Sarah was able to pass off her lack of Quidditch knowledge to Luna by telling her that she came from a part of America where Quidditch was virtually non-existent.

After the match, which Gryffindor had won two-hundred-and-ten to one hundred, Hermione and Sarah headed back toward where Harry said he would meet them. On the way, Hermione hastily explained Luna's unique nature to Sarah. Sarah came to understand that the reason she did not understand much of what Luna talked about had nothing to do with the fact that she had only been a witch for the past few days. Regardless, Luna had been very nice, and Sarah was glad to have met her. She had been quite amused with her fantastical stories.

Having obtained permission from Professor McGonagall, Sarah was able to join Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Gryffindor common room for the afternoon. She had also agreed that it was a good idea for Sarah to continue wearing Gryffindor colors, and immediately emblazoned the front of Sarah's robes with the Gryffindor crest. After doing this, Sarah was also told the password to give to the Fat Lady, and granted permission to join her new friends in there whenever she liked. It would appear much more normal for her to easily blend into one of the school's Houses.

McGonagall had to admit that she was now glad of Harry's predisposition to snooping around. She was quite happy with the results it had produced. Blending into one of the school's Houses would deflect a great amount of suspicion from the girl. Most importantly, McGonagall realized, having friends here would be a great asset to Sarah for reasons manifold.

With the help of her new friends, Sarah was able to begin learning her way around the castle a bit better. Even though she was still quite daunted by the castle in its entirety, she quickly memorized the two routes that she would be using quite frequently. When it was time for Sarah to return to her seventh floor corridor, she was now fairly confident that she could find her way from her room to the Great Hall, as well as the Gryffindor common room, and back again. If she were asked to go anywhere else, however, she was fairly certain she would get lost. She doubted she could even find her way back to the hospital wing yet.

This was something she would have to be sure and ask Harry tomorrow, she thought, stepping inside her room and shutting the door. Knowing it had grown dark, he had been kind enough to offer to walk Sarah back to the Room of Requirement to make absolutely sure she didn't get lost in the absence of daylight. He had also demonstrated the room's magic once again, summoning the door for her.

Not knowing how to put them out herself, Sarah got into bed with the sconces still burning. This was the same reason the fireplace remained unlit. She was quite eager to learn how to handle these simple tasks on her own.

Just as she thought this, however, the sconces extinguished themselves and the fireplace lit. Startled, she shot up in bed, thinking that someone else had entered her room. She found it to be completely empty. Recalling what Harry had said about the room, she realized that it had probably sensed her need to put out the lights and ignite the fireplace.

Amazed, she lay back down in bed. She was quite exhausted from an eventful day full of meeting new people.


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Sarah spent the majority of her Monday visiting in the Gryffindor common room with her new friends between their classes, or in her own room, curiously leafing through the textbooks that it had created for her. She was anxiously looking forward to her upcoming lesson with Professor Snape; partly because of her eagerness to begin learning, and partly because of some other reason that she could not quite put her finger on. By the time she was finishing dinner in the Great Hall, she had grown quite nervous.

"What time is it?" she asked, turning to Harry.

Harry glanced down at the starry watch that had once belonged to Fabian Prewett.

"About six forty," he said. "Why?"

"My lesson is supposed to be at seven," she said, "But I don't know how to get there."

Harry recalled what she had told him about her lessons with Professor Snape.

"Where is it supposed to be?" he asked, "In his classroom or in his office?"

"Professor McGonagall said it would be in his office," Sarah replied. "I haven't seen him since Saturday."

"I can take you," said Harry, finishing up his last few bites of treacle tart. He then rose from the bench, Sarah standing as well. "We may as well go now. He'll give you detention if you're even a tiny bit late... come to think of it, I'm not even sure he can give you detention, but we had better not risk it. I wouldn't put it past him."

Ron attempted to direct a question at the two who were rising from the table, but his mouth was so full of food that it was unintelligible. Attempting to swallow it all at once, he began coughing. Hermione patted him on the back, her eyes directed downward at her copy of The Evening Prophet in front of her on the table.

"I think Ronald would like to know where you're going," she said distractedly.

"I'm going to be taking lessons with Professor Snape," said Sarah.

Once he had managed to swallow his food, Ron looked up at her, aghast.

"It'll be alright," Harry assured him, turning Sarah away from the table toward the doors. "Let's go."

As they walked away, they heard Ron mumbling something about it being a better idea for Harry to teach her instead.

"Is there something wrong with Professor Snape?" Sarah asked, Harry now leading her through unfamiliar corridors.

"He just isn't the type who would volunteer to give someone like you private lessons," Harry explained. "That's what Ron is probably on about. He'll understand better once we tell him that McGonagall forced him to."

Sarah remained silent.

"He's just got a bad reputation," Harry continued, "He can be a pretty nasty teacher. You might see for yourself."

Harry began leading Sarah downward along a spiraling staircase. They descended into the dungeons. Professor Snape did seem like a pretty grumpy person, Sarah thought to herself, but he hadn't been outright nasty to her... yet. She sincerely hoped that he wouldn't pick tonight to start.

Weaving their way through the dungeons, they approached a door.

"Right in there," Harry said, motioning to the door. "I’d open it for you, but... let's just say, Professor Snape doesn't like me very much, and it might rub off on you if he sees that I'm the one who brought you here. Come to think of it," Harry pulled off the Gryffindor scarf that Sarah was still proudly wearing over her shoulders, "We’d better tone down the Gryffindor thing a bit. That should do. If he sees the crest on your robes, you can just tell him you're borrowing someone else's. I'll go put this up in your room for you."

"Thanks a lot, Harry," said Sarah, smiling at him. She greatly appreciated all the ways in which he was helping her.

"No problem," he said, returning her smile. "Think you can find your way back alright?"

"I should be able to," she nodded.

"Alright then, good luck," said Harry. He gave her a small wave and headed back up out of the dungeons.

Now alone, Sarah turned toward the door in front of her. She was quite nervous. Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to it, knocking twice.

"Enter," called a deep, silky voice from within.

Sarah pulled on the door's large, rusty handle, letting herself in. She shut it as quietly as possible behind her.

She found herself inside a medium-sized room which greatly resembled a Muggle chemistry lab. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bottles and jars. There were a couple tables completely covered in what looked to Sarah like chemistry equipment. There was a small door on the room's right wall. At the far end, Snape sat at a large desk covered in parchments, a long quill in his hand. There was also a single large, white feather resting on his desk. He looked up at the girl as she entered.

"I doubt you are going to learn much magic standing in my doorway," he drawled at her.

At this, Sarah slowly drew closer to his desk, eyes quickly moving around the room. She was quite fascinated by everything she saw. Even though it looked like a Muggle chemistry lab, it certainly didn't smell like one. On the contrary, she discovered it to slightly hint of the same pleasant scent she had already come to associate with this man. She found herself breathing slowly and deeply, though she did not know why. Snape, watching her as she examined the room, spied the Gryffindor crest on her robes. His eyes narrowed.

"Already adopted by Gryffindor, I see," he said.

Startled, Sarah looked to him. She hadn't expected him to notice that quickly. Perhaps this whole House rivalry was bigger than she thought.

"Sort of," she began, deciding to tell him the truth. He did, after all, know her entire story. She didn't see the harm in being honest with him. "Professor McGonagall thought it would be a good idea for it to look like I was in one of the school's Houses. People might ask less questions about me, or not even notice me at all."

"I see," he said. He could see the logic in that, even though the choice of House displeased him. Standing, he moved around to the front of the desk to stand before the girl. Sarah looked up at him. He was much taller than her. She wasn't at all surprised to see him wearing the same black attire as always.

"Well, Miss Garrend," he said, regarding her, "Magic in itself is an extremely broad topic with many branches. You could not possibly hope to learn everything in a single night. It will take some time to bring you up to scratch."

Sarah nodded. She hadn't expecting to be able to repair broken flasks or summon objects after her very first lesson.

"That, I believe, is the point of these lessons," he continued. "Even though you are not officially a student of this school, I expect you to behave as such."

"I understand, Professor," she said, understanding what he expected.

"Good. Now," he said, picking his wand up off his desk. Sarah mimicked him, drawing her wand out of her robes. "Seeing as you are completely devoid of any magical knowledge, I thought we might begin with a simple charm that will aid you in developing basic control over your wand's direction. This is typically taught to first year students."

He stepped aside, gesturing to the single white feather upon his desk.

"Observe,"

Sarah watched intently as he raised his wand. He then made a swishing and flicking movement with it.

"Wingardium Leviosa,"

The feather levitated into the air. As Snape raised his wand higher, the feather climbed higher, seeming to follow the wand's direction. As he lowered his wand, so too lowered the feather. Turning his wand toward Sarah, the feather followed. He lowered it toward her. When she held out a hand, he gently placed the feather in it, and broke the charm.

"A simple levitation charm," he explained. "You saw how the feather followed my direction. In order to do this, you will need to establish control over your wand. Once you are able to master this, we can move on to something else. Please place the feather in the center of the floor and begin. I do not wish the contents of my desk to be disturbed by your efforts."

Sarah moved to the center of the room and placed the feather upon the floor. Stepping back from it, she raised her wand.

"The spoken incantation is pronounced Wingardium Leviosa," he repeated slowly for her again. "And please be warned that this particular spell does not require loud volume or forcible wand movements. I would rather you not damage my office."

Nodding, Sarah focused on the feather as hard as she could. Attempting to repeat the same motion that she had seen Snape perform with his wand, she spoke.

"Wingardium Leviosa,"

The feather raised off the floor a few inches, but zipped across the room and hit one of the shelves, falling again.

"You managed to affect it," said Snape, "But you have no control over your wand. You must learn to establish and exercise this control. Try again."

Sarah moved to the feather and picked it up, replacing it in the center of the room. Stepping back, she tried again.

"Wingardium Leviosa,"

The feather raised slightly higher this time, but then rocketed off in a completely different direction, falling to the floor once more. Sarah retrieved it and prepared to try again. Snape was glad that he had chosen something as harmless as a feather to experiment on in her first lesson. Had he chosen something more substantial, she would surely have broken several things by now.

"Focus on not only the feather, but the wand in your hand," he instructed. "Feel its connection with you, as well as its connection with the feather. Think of it as an extension of your own body."

Taking a deep breath, Sarah tried again.

"Wingardium Leviosa,"

The results were much different this time. The feather lifted several inches off of the ground, and remained still. After a few seconds, Sarah tentatively raised her wand upward, thrilled to see the feather rise as well, following her movement. Excited with her success, she smiled and looked to Snape, who was watching the feather, his features quite blank. As she did this, the feather fluttered to the floor. Snape looked to the girl.

"You lost focus," he explained. "Magic requires focus. A spell you are sustaining can only remain active as long as you maintain your focus. If your focus breaks," he nodded once and motioned to the lifeless feather on the floor. "If you can manage to place the feather back on my desk, without disturbing anything else in the process, we can move on." He moved back around to the other side of his desk, taking his seat again. He continued grading the parchments he had been working on when the girl had arrived.

About twenty minutes later, Sarah had finally accomplished this task. This was, of course, only after she had managed to drop the feather several times, accidentally remove the quill from Snape's hand, and knock over his inkwell. Sighing and running his hand over his face, he stood again.

"That, I think, will conclude your wandwork for this evening, Miss Garrend," Sarah looked crestfallen. Snape eyed her and took note of her disappointed expression. "That does not mean, however, that your lesson is concluded. As I have said, Magic is a broad subject with many branches. You have already examined the products of another one of these branches yourself, I believe."

Sarah tilted her head.

"Potions," he stated simply. "An extremely broad and intricate topic in itself, we will only manage to get you slightly acquainted with the study tonight."

Sarah watched him as he cleared off one of the other tables in the room. He then pulled up a spare chair that had been sitting behind his desk. Moving over to one of his shelves, he began pulling things off of it, and placing them on the bare table. There appeared to be a small cauldron, some scales, and several labeled ingredients that he was setting out for her.

"This potion, when completed," he said, handing her a parchment on which he had written instructions, "Will act as a simple antidote to nausea. If you can manage to brew it correctly, I will permit you to keep it. Please begin. I will give you one hour."

Snape returned to his desk and continued with his work. Sarah placed her wand inside her robes and sat down at the table he had set up for her, beginning to decipher the instructions written in his cramped, spiky script. He had clearly labeled all of the ingredients for her. Having no magical background, she couldn't possibly hope to identify some of these things which might as well be common household items in a Wizarding home. After reading over the instructions several times, she set to work.

During the times when her cauldron needed to simmer for a few minutes, as per the instructions, she became bored and slightly restless. She snuck a few glances at Snape, who seemed to be completely absorbed in his work and not paying her any attention. Too frightened to attempt striking up any sort of conversation with him, she took to practicing her newly learned levitation charm on her parchment of instructions.

Concentrating on keeping her focus on the charm, she did not notice that Snape had risen from his desk and moved behind her. She only became aware of his presence when he placed his hands on the back of her chair and leaned down near her to check the state of her cauldron. Utterly startled at his appearance and close proximity, she lost focus on her charm. Her parchment fluttered down through the air, landing right into her cauldron, where the paper and the ink had an immediate reaction with the uncompleted potion inside.

Sarah yelped as some of her potion splashed out at her, getting into her eyes. Snape jumped back as she leapt to her feet, her chair falling over backwards and clattering loudly to the floor. By the way she was holding her head down and shielding her eyes from further damage with her forearm, he could immediately tell what had happened. He grabbed her by the back of her shoulders and began steering her roughly toward the door which lead into his private quarters.

"My eyes," she said, "Some of it got into my eyes!" She was rubbing her eyes with both hands furiously, unable to see anything as she did. Feeling Snape take her by the shoulders, she allowed him to blindly guide her. She wasn't in any pain, but her eyes were greatly irritated.

"I know, you foolish girl," he snarled at her, throwing open the door and shoving her through it. He continued shepherding her through his quarters, toward his washroom. He knew that nothing in the potion would be particularly dangerous or damaging to her eyes, but it was still best that she rinse it out.

As she was pushed roughly along, Sarah continued rubbing at her irritated eyes. She had assumed that he was angry and frustrated with her for managing to mess up such a simple potion; the real reason behind his agitation was unknown to her. There was something worrying him about what had just happened.

Pushing her into his washroom, he shoved her toward the sink. Whipping out his wand, he flicked it at the tap, which immediately began pouring warm water into the basin.

"Rinse," he said. He placed one of his hands flat on the upper part of her back, forcing her to bend toward the sink. Hearing the running water near her face, Sarah removed her hands from her eyes and immediately began rinsing.

She had no idea that nothing in the potion would be damaging to her eyes, but she had assumed this was the case from the rough and hurried manner in which she had been guided to the sink. She rinsed as quickly as she could, again and again, flooding her eyes with warm water. Snape stood watching behind her.

After several minutes of frenzied rinsing, she straightened up a bit, still unable to see through her watery eyes. Snape forced a small towel into her left hand.

"Thank you," she said softly, hoping that he could hear the apology in her voice. For some reason that she could not identify, she felt eager to please him and prove herself to him. He had been the one who initially argued against her being a witch, after all. Snape did not respond. Though she could not see it, Snape was intently watching her reflection in the mirror above the sink, anxiously waiting for her to open her eyes.

Leaning back down into the sink, Sarah splashed her eyes with water once more, and then quickly toweled dry. Letting out a sigh of relief, she set her towel aside and straightened up again. She glanced briefly at her own reflection, and began turning around toward Snape when she did a double-take at what she saw in the mirror.

Something was horribly, horribly wrong with what was staring back at her. Gripping either side of the basin with her hands, she leaned right up to the mirror, getting as close as she could.

Her irises, which she had always known to be an unchanging dark brown in color, were now a bright blood red.

She gasped, her pupils constricting sharply at the horror she saw. Her knuckles grew white as she gripped the basin. She stared into her own red-eyed reflection for several long moments. Her eyes shifting upward in the mirror, she could see Snape's reflection. He was standing against the wall behind her, looking at her in the mirror. His expression was unreadable.

Trying to maintain as neutral an expression as possible, he took a deep breath. He was now faced with a dilemma; whether or not to lie to the girl and tell her that the potion mishap had done this strange thing to her eyes, or do admit to her that he had placed a glamour on her eyes that night in the hospital wing in order to hide her condition from everyone, including herself.

Several long moments of silence passed.

"Please follow me back into my office, Miss Garrend," he said at last. She followed him back through his quarters, too preoccupied with what had happened in order to take in any of her surroundings.

Arriving back in his office, he righted the chair that she had been sitting in. He moved it in front of his desk, facing it, and then proceeded around to his own chair, taking a seat. Shaky on her feet, Sarah sank into the chair, staring at him over his desk. He folded his hands in front of him, regarding her carefully. He had made his decision.

"Miss Garrend," he began, "A few days ago, you were correct in your suspicion that I had done something to you before leaving the hospital wing."

Sarah stared at him. She recalled how Snape had flicked his wand in her direction and her eyes had filled with a slight burning sensation which had quickly faded.

"You did this to my eyes? Why?" she asked, sounding shocked. She had misunderstood him.

"No, Miss Garrend," he replied, trying his hardest to remain calm with her, "I did not turn your eyes that unfortunate shade of red. I placed a charm upon them which changed them back to their original color."

"But, why?" she asked, glancing quickly all around the room as if she would find the answers somewhere there. She then looked back to him. "What happened to my eyes, then? What's wrong with me?" She sounded extremely frightened.

Snape took a deep breath.

"I am afraid they changed the night you arrived here," he began. "When I found you badly injured on the school's steps after performing those extraordinary feats of magic, I picked you up. As I carried you inside, I happened to see your eyes in their previous state. It seems that, somewhere between the time when you lost consciousness in my arms and awoke once again in the hospital wing, they had changed."

"Why?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"We are, as of yet, unsure," he replied.

"But why did you change them back, then?" she asked. "Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey must have already seen, they must know. Why did you bother changing them back?"

"They did see. That is not the problem," he explained. "It is from anyone else seeing your eye color which I protected you against."

"Why?" Sarah asked. "Would they think I was some sort of... some sort of freak or something?"

"Perhaps," he said. "Perhaps worse."

"What do you mean?"

"I am afraid, Miss Garrend, that for reasons yet outside your understanding," he continued, "Having eyes of red would most certainly not endear you to any witch or wizard you meet. There was, in all too recent history, an extremely infamous wizard. He was, quite simply put, a monster. His eyes, while not exactly the same as yours, were also red, even though they began life as a normal color."

Sarah stared silently at him.

For the next fifteen minutes, Snape consented to give her a brief explanation of Voldemort and his evil. He told her of the wars he had started, the terrible acts he had committed against man and nature, and the countless people whom he and his Death Eaters murdered in cold blood. Even though this was only a short explanation with many details left out, Sarah was terrified. She hadn't yet stopped to think that magic could be used to such terrible purposes. She had thought it was something wonderful, something that could help people and perform extraordinary miracles. She felt sick as she learned that it could also be used to kill, torture, and destroy. When Snape finished his brief explanation, Sarah spoke again.

"So this Dark Lord," she began, her voice shaky, "People might think... I'm-?" she was unable to complete the rest of her sentence.

"I do not believe people would think that you are the Dark Lord, no," Snape said. "For most witches and wizards, red eyes would be inextricably linked with memories of him and the fear he held over their lives. They may be frightened of you, perhaps even tempted to become aggressive with you. For reasons beyond your control, people would be immediately suspicious of you, among other things."

Sarah nodded slowly, beginning to understand.

"It is for this reason that I thought it best to hide this detail," he explained. "As a newly discovered witch, something quite strange to begin with, having red eyes would certainly not have you off to a very good start in the Wizarding world."

"Why did you hide it from me, though?" Sarah asked.

"At the time, would you really have taken well to the news that your eyes had mysteriously changed color for reasons unknown, Miss Garrend?" Snape replied, his tone harsh.

"Probably not, no," she admitted.

"There you have it," said Snape. "Now that you are aware, however, I must insist that we continue the use of a glamour in order to give your eyes their original appearance. I can perform the charm for you until a time when you become skilled enough to perform it on yourself."

Sarah nodded her consent. She had been given an explanation, however brief, of the stigma behind having red eyes. Eager to fit into her new world, she did not want to place herself at this disadvantage. She idly wondered how Harry or any of her other new friends would have reacted had they met her with red eyes instead of brown.

"Is it going to stay this way for good?" she asked.

"Of this we are also unsure," Snape replied. "I cannot tell you any more than that, for the simple fact that we do not know at this time."

Snape, believing that the girl had been through quite enough in her first lesson, stood. She mimicked him.

"Well, Miss Garrend," he said, "You have begun learning to exercise control over your wand and your magic, you received a small, if disastrous, taste of potionmaking, and even received a bit of an impromptu history lesson. I believe that will be enough for one night."

"Alright," she said, sighing. She had come into this lesson so very eager and excited. Now, however, she was slightly depressed to learn of the terribly frightening change in her appearance. Worried, she hoped that her new friends would never find out.

Snape moved around the front of his desk to face the girl.

"Please turn toward me so that I may apply the charm before you leave," he said.

Doing as instructed, she turned toward him, but her eyes and head were downcast.

Sarah trembled slightly as she felt Snape's left hand come up under her chin, gently forcing her to look up at him. His black eyes were staring directly into her own. For some reason, Sarah's heart skipped a beat at the sight. She blushed faintly.

Snape furrowed his brows as he looked down at the girl, noticing the slight color in her face. The origin of this color was a mystery to him. Giving it no second thought, he did not dwell on it.

Keeping his left hand underneath her chin to tilt her head upward, he lifted his right, pointing his wand into her eyes.

"Now that you know it's coming," he said, "Expect a slight burning or irritating sensation. In time, you may not even feel this as you become more used to having the charm applied to you. The eyes are extremely sensitive to magic."

He then flicked his wand. Sarah squinted, feeling her eyes burn a little as the charm took effect. Snape stepped away from her as she rubbed her eyes. When she looked back up at him, her eyes had returned to their original shade of brown. Snape nodded at her, indicating that it had worked. Sarah then turned to leave.

"Same time tomorrow, Miss Garrend," Snape called after her as she left his office.


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About ten minutes later, Sarah found herself back in front of the door to Snape's office. Perhaps she had been a little overconfident in telling Harry that she would be able to find her own way back to the Room of Requirement. Thus far, she had not even managed to escape the dungeons. Not knowing what else to do, she knocked softly on the door.

When nothing happened for a couple minutes, she decided to knock again, louder this time. Before her knuckles came into contact with the door, it swung open loudly.

This was the first time, so far, that Sarah had seen him wearing anything other than his black robes. Snape stood before her in the doorway, glaring down at her. He was wearing what looked like a Muggle bathrobe, only longer and more flowing. She could see a bit of his chest exposed through its folds, and the sash was tied tightly about his waist. At this, she immediately dropped her eyes to the floor, blushing. She now saw that his feet were bare.

"What is it?" he grumbled, clearly annoyed.

Sarah cleared her throat softly.

"I... can't find my way back to my room," she admitted, thoroughly embarrassed for many reasons.

Snape exhaled loudly, still glaring down at her.

"And I suppose you expect me to gallantly escort you there?" he groused at her.

"I'm really sorry," she said meekly. She then began turning away.

Snape rolled his eyes at the retreating girl and sighed resignedly, as he had done numerous times within the fast few days.

"Where are you staying?" he called after her, though he still sounded none too pleased.

"A place called the Room of Requirement," Sarah replied, trying not to turn back and look at him. She kept her eyes cast down at the floor. "It's up on one of the higher levels, I think. There's this weird tapestry across from it with some strange guy trying to teach a bunch of trolls to dance or something."

Snape smirked at her irreverent description of the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to ballet. He knew where that was, up in a corridor on the seventh floor.

"Come," he said sternly, closing his office door and striding past her down the dungeon hallway.

Snape guided Sarah through the castle in silence. Sarah, who probably should have been trying to memorize the route back up to her room, kept her eyes on the floor, determined not to look at Snape again. Something about seeing him dressed this way made her feel a little uneasy. Although she did not notice, it also made her pulse quicken, and instilled a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Reaching the seventh floor corridor Sarah had described, Snape stared at the blank expanse of wall across from the tapestry. He then looked to the girl.

"Well?" he said.

"I've got to make it appear," Sarah replied, still determined not to look at Snape. Biting her lower lip nervously, she stepped forward and began pacing back and forth in front of the blank wall, praying that it would work.

I need to get back into my room, I need to get back into my room. She repeated this over and over again in her head, focusing as hard as she could.

To her delight, the same ornately-carved door that she had seen earlier in the day materialized for her. Before she could take any action, Snape strode forward. He grabbed the doorknob and quickly pulled the door open, stepping aside. He was holding the door open for her.

All determinedness forgotten, Sarah looked up at him. He was still glaring at her. She swallowed hard. He wanted her to get inside her room as quickly as possible so he could return to his own.

"Thank you," she said softly, directing her eyes at the floor again. She quickly hurried inside. Snape remained silent.

Once she was inside, he shut the door behind her. It disappeared as he strode away.

Inside her room, Sarah leaned her back against the door and slowly sank to the floor. She stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused. She was not reflecting on the fact that Snape had indeed gallantly escorted her back to her room, despite his annoyance. She thought about her eyes.

Standing, she moved into her bathroom, focusing on how nice it would be for it to be bright inside of it. The sconces lit themselves as she went.

Leaning over her sink toward the mirror, she looked into her own reflection. She saw the same dark brown eyes that she had always known staring back at her.

She now knew, however, of the bright blood red that lay hidden underneath.


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A/N: There you have chapter 7! I hope you enjoyed it. This was a very fun chapter to write. More to come soon! Please leave a review if you would be so kind :)