The light to his Darkness

Chapter 7

September 1st 1990

It was time. It was Noelle's first day at Hogwarts. She was so excited to see the rest of the castle outside of her fathers rooms that her eye colour was changing so rapidly that it was actually dizzying to watch. She was dressed in a special set of robes that would change when her appearance changes. This means its size would change but also the house colours displayed so she wouldn't look suspicious wandering around. Snape had tried everything to try to calm his daughter who was practically bouncing up and down but nothing seemed to work. So, he opted for being harsh. "Will you stop moving and calm yourself so you can change your appearance and we can leave." With that exclamation Noelle abruptly stilled. She took three visible breaths in and out, then morphed her appearance into a blond, blue eyed girl who was a slightly taller than Noelle herself but still small enough to be seen as a first year. She then grabbed her leather book bag, which had all the books and equipment she needed for the day, from its resting place on the floor and followed her father out of the door. It was still too early for other students to be wandering around but Snape wanted to drop Noelle off at her first class and then be back to his classroom with time to set up.

Noelle had her own special timetable because she was taking private lessons with all the teachers in their free periods. This was due to the fact that she was not taking first year curriculum but instead just learning half of the OWL courses that she would be taking next year with the other fifth years.

As the pair walked around the castle to get to the transfiguration classroom Noelle was absorbing all the information around her. She was taking in every detail and memorising the layout of the castle so she wouldn't get lost on her way to her next class. When they arrived, Severus knocked on the door and an older lady wearing glasses and a black witchs hat emerged from the room, Noelle knew this was Professor McGonagall. Once Snape handed Noelle over to McGonagall he turned to leave and whispered so that only Noelle could hear, "Good luck, I know you'll do amazingly", and walked off to his next class making sure to look as menacing as possible because other students were now walking around.

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After her transfiguration lesson where she had managed to do all the things McGonagall asked her to do easily. She went to defence against the dark arts, then charms, then divination, then care of magical creatures, then muggle studies and finally potions. She was extremely talented when it came to magic so the first- and second-year curriculum, they were testing her on today came easily and she didn't really need to try. After her potions lesson had ended and Snape switched from teacher mode to father mode, she told him all about her day. How all the lessons were quite simple and she couldn't wait to move on to harder content. How she loved all the teachers except Professor Quirrell, who taught her muggle studies, because she felt uneasy in his presence and sensed danger of some kind.

She explained all this to her father who took her feelings about peoples characters very seriously because of her legitimacy. Snape decided that because of this feeling he would have Lupin teach her muggle studies instead and she would flood to his cottage when she had muggle studies timetabled. This would also mean that Noelle could see Lupin regularly, which Snape knew she needed because they never went long without talking. Also, this would mean she could stay and have her wandless magic lessons as well. Once this was all sorted, she made herself dinner whilst her father ate in the great hall.

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The rest of the year passed by in a blur. All of Noelle's lessons were amazing and she was learning new spells very quickly. By the end of the year she had completed all of the content from year one, two, three, four and most of five. This meant that the OWLs shouldn't be too hard at all. Throughout the year she would floo to Lupins cottage three times a week for her muggle studies and wandless magic lessons which tended to be followed by lots of chatter with either a hot chocolate or normal chocolate. Every two weeks Tonks would come to visit and talk about school and to check how she was finding using her metamormagus powers a lot more than usual.

When Noelle wasn't in lessons she could be found in the depths of the library. She had always loved to read so this room was like heaven to her. Shelves upon shelves of books. All different types: nonfiction, fiction, muggle, wizardry. To Noelle it didn't matter, every evening without fail she would pick one or two to bring back to her room and stay up late trying to finish them. Quite often she would sit with Severus on the couch whilst they both read. Some would say that this was nothing special but to both of them it was because they just liked being in each others company. They were both happy in the silence, and for Noelle it provided answers in her mind, because it allowed her to sort out what feelings were her own and which were others. It also allowed her to more easily hear her fathers thoughts, which were always interesting to listen too.

Noelle didn't have any friends because she was never in any classes and also was never seen outside the classroom as the same person. She talked to many of the portraits and ghosts which gave her a different perspective on the world due to the difference in the time they lived. The only other pupils she had talked to were Fred and George Weasley because she had walked in on one of their pranks. This meant that they dragged her with them to hide because they didn't want her blamed for something they had done.

After that whenever she was the brown haired and brown eyed girl in Gryffindor they knew, they would wave and talk to her when she passed in the corridor. Noelle loved this and throughout the year ended up joining them on many of their pranks and laughing so hard afterwards in one of the mysterious tunnels they had discovered because of the piece of paper they called the Marauders map.

Noelle had so much fun all year round. It was full of making memories and finding a home in the place her parents found a home in each other. The place where Remus learned to accept the fact he was a werewolf because his friends embraced it. The place where Tonks realised she wasn't at fault for her mother being cut off from her family. It was the place she found herself in and realised it was not a bad thing to have power as long as she learnt to control it.

And so, she spent her summer at Hogwarts because Albus thought she would be the safest there. Noelle read so many books, learnt to harness her legitimacy and wandless magic. She used the free time to learn to control her abilities as best as she could in order to make sure those around her never get hurt and to make her mother proud of her.

Every time she managed to block out someone's thoughts or to perfect a spell without her wand, she experienced this strange feeling. It was almost like someone was pressing a soft kiss to her forehead and giving her a hug. Noelle knew that it was her mothers way of saying she was proud of her even if she could not utter the words herself. Noelle was reminded everyday by Severus that those we love never truly leave us and there are things that even death cannot touch.