The light to his Darkness

Chapter 4

Five years Later (Noelle is ten years old)

"Dad, when's Tonks coming." Noelle shouted down the stairs to her father, who was casually sat in his armchair in the sitting room reading the paper, like he did every morning.

"She'll be here around eleven for your lesson," Snape said calmly.

A squeal could be heard from upstairs, followed by the opening of draws and finally the sound of the shower being turned on.

Due to the extreme power Noelle possessed, she was taking lots of lessons in order to learn control, so she wouldn't accidently blow up the house when she was angry at her father for taking away her books. This was a regular occurrence because in Snape's opinion she spent way to much time reading books indoors and never went outside and talked to anyone she didn't know already.

She was an extremely shy child. Severus felt guilty for this because he had to protect her by keeping her away from others and making sure her identity remained a secret. This shyness disappeared when she was with Tonks, Remus (who she called Rem or Remmy), Albus and obviously him.

This was mainly because she grew up with them and could not remember life without them in it. Remus was her god-father and kind of uncle. He also teaches her how to control her wandless magic and do simple spells in order to release some of her power in a productive way. This happens every two days when she, at ten o'clock, floos to Remus's cottage and spends the day learning, and just spending time with her god-father. They had become very close as Noelle had grown because Lupin could not keep a secret from her; no one could, but for him it was different as she could hear every bad thought about himself and so knew exactly what to say to make him feel better. Remus did not know what he would do without the young girl who, even at the mere age of nine, was most likely smarter than him.

Tonks and Noelle's relationship was the complete opposite of hers and Remus's; this was because Tonks was younger and happier in herself. This meant that the girls mainly just laughed and chatted when they were together, after Tonks had given Noelle her metamorphmagus lessons which occurred three times a week. This was under Dumbledore's orders, so that when the time came she could disguise herself when she went out and to school in a few months. Tonks had become the big sister Noelle didn't have, but at the same time her mother figure as well; Tonks explained all the girlie stuff that Severus couldn't bring himself too and always took Noelle shopping for clothes when she grew out of her old ones. When Tonks was around at Spinner's end they were inseparable.

Albus Dumbledore had become the crazy grandfather who was always around asking questions about her progress in magic, and for adult chats with Snape in the living room with a silencing spell around it. Then, before he leaves, sneaks up to see the young child and gives her sherbet lemons and a hug before he returns to Hogwarts.

Everyone in her unconventional family new that eventually she would have to leave to go to Hogwarts in many different disguises, and they had an inkling that this would not help the shy girl's personality to grow. At the moment Noelle was a quiet, book obsessed nerd. You would never see her anywhere without some sort of book, fictional or non-fictional, doesn't matter, and her sketch book with a pencil tucked into her thick black hair. She was one of the kindest people you would ever meet and would help anyone in a heart beat. This contrasted her demeanour when she was angry, because when she was you did not want to be near her, as she could be extremely scary when she wanted too. Unfortunately, Noelle was also very emotional and sensitive because she could hear others thoughts, which she knew spoke the truth that words did not. She had learnt to love being unnoticed and invisible, because she was always having to change her appearance if they ever went outside the house. It was this that made her exceptionally observant, even without her mind reading abilities.

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After about an hour Tonks appeared in the fireplace and casually strolled out and ruffled Snape's greasy hair. "Hi Snapy" she said through giggles.

This greatly amused Severus but he refused to let the young women know this, so instead he retorted with, "I may not teach you anymore, Nymphadora, but I will stop you coming to see Noelle as a substitute detention if you like." Snape replied with a smug smile, due to the fact he knew Tonks would do nothing that could possibly mean she couldn't see young Noelle.

"Fine, you are no fun, even now. Is Noelle upstairs in her room?" Tonks stated in an annoyed tone.

"Yes" Snape said casually, before adding: "Make sure to do some work before you just start chatting, she needs to make sure she can transform perfectly into anyone without trying and keep it up for long periods of time."

"Yes Snapy" Tonks said as she turned to go up the stairs to her sort-of younger sister. But before she did she said in a menacing voice: "Don't call me Nymphadora again or I will make it so you can't say anything, got it?"

With that she ran up the stairs into Noelle's room and tackled her into a hug, before beginning her hour long lesson. This involved changing her appearance into anyone Tonks told her too and remaining like that whilst Tonks made her do other things. This used to be very difficult for the girl but now was exceptionally simple.

At the first lesson they had just practiced with hair colours, then face features, then body types and worked their way from there over the course of three years. Now when Noelle felt certain emotions her hair no longer changed colours but instead her eyes did. They had tried everything to stop it but nothing worked, so they found out that when she looked like someone else it didn't happen, only when she was herself. This meant she was safe if she was outside.

After the lesson finished the two girls just sat and talked about life, mainly about what books Noelle was reading, what Remus was teaching her and how lessons with her father about potions and general magic were going. They did this for hours until Tonks headed home to Andromeda and Ted, who Noelle had met by changing into one of Tonks' friends from school. She really liked them because they were so kind, and excepted her into their home without a second thought.

That left Snape and Noelle alone in the house. It was silent, but neither of them minded; they found it very comforting and felt no need to fill the silence.

Noelle then ran to the kitchen and began to cook dinner, something she discovered she loved to do at the age of eight when she watched Leafy make a birthday cake for Severus. She decided she was going to make homemade pasta with a tomato sauce and some garlic bread. So she began to cook.

Twenty minutes later Snape sneaked into the kitchen and watched his daughter happily prance around the kitchen whilst chucking random ingredients together. All he could think was how happy he was to have her in his life and just how much she was really like her mother, who also had a talent for cooking the muggle way.

He was drawn out of his deep thoughts when Noelle said "Dad can you please stop thinking so much; you're giving me a headache."

"Sorry little one; what's for dinner?"

"Veggie pasta and garlic bread," she said, whilst placing the floury spaghetti into a saucepan of boiling water.

"No meat," Snape said, teasing his daughter a little, since she was a vegetarian after she saw Remus eating raw meat and kind of got freaked out.

"No dad," she muttered with a groan.

They both then sat at the dining table and ate the lovely food that Noelle had cooked. This was just a normal day for the family, but they loved it all the same. They both cherished these simple moments because they both understood loss and how easily happiness can be wrenched away. Both felt the same pain due to the fact that since Snape had looked into to those emerald eyes Noelle and him were connected. She could feel his emotions and read his thoughts better than anyone even, whilst he was using occulumency. He, however, could only see what she wanted him to see meaning a lot of the time he was left guessing, but just like any father he could read her face, that she couldn't hide, even with her hair. They were bonded for life, and even in death.