The Potions Master's Daughter Part 2

CHAPTER 1 The Letter

Alice hadn't felt so lazy in a long time. She lay on the grass, staring at the blue sky above her, letting thoughts swirl around in her head. She stared at the passing clouds, blinking lazily, feeling her eyelids become heavy. She yawned and reached for her journal, which was lying next to her on the grass. Between the pages, she stuffed a letter she got from Daphne last week. She opened it up, and read it through again.

Dear Alice,

How have you been? I miss you! We're in Scotland now, visiting my grandparents and I'm bored to death. My sister Astoria and I are doing a lot of walking. There are quite a few interesting historical places here, actually. We've even found a haunted castle; the ghost was rather friendly. He said he knew the Fat Friar – funny, isn't it?

Have you heard anything from Blaise, by the way? I've written to him, but he hasn't replied for weeks – he must be abroad with his mother.

Listen, I've got news – the Malfoys have invited us to their Manor in Wiltshire in the first week of August. They've sent owls to everyone. Pansy and Theodore ­are coming too. The rest are busy, unfortunately. They asked me to write to you since they didn't know your address.

I know how you feel about this sort of thing but I really don't want to go alone. Would you consider coming? We'd have a good laugh! Blaise hasn't replied so I'm pretty sure he'll be skipping it.

Anyway, if you decide to come, just use the Floo network – for the address, 'Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire' should do the trick. I'll see you there on the 3rd of August!

Yours,

Daphne

Alice folded the letter, and put it back in the journal, sighing deeply. She really didn't want to go to Draco Malfoy's 'Manor'. In fact, she could think of a thousand other things she would rather do. But then again, she hadn't seen her friends for almost two months, and she was starting to get lonely.

July hadn't been too exciting. Alice spent it reading countless books she'd accumulated over the years. She even finally finished Modern Magical History, the book she was so obsessed with during her first year; one she now knew she could hardly understand back then.

Alice thought back to her first year at Hogwarts and smiled to herself. She was so flustered back then; so keen to know everything, to understand things that were impossible to understand for an eleven-year-old. Back then, she didn't know that what she needed was time. Time to grow up and learn. Knowledge, Alice now knew, came with experience, and experience came with age.

When Alice first came to Hogwarts she thought she knew everything. She thought Snape had told her everything there was to know about the wizarding world. And then, within the first month of school, she could already tell there were things she hadn't been aware of. Back then, she felt angry at Snape for not telling her everything right away. Now, she could tell why – she was simply too young to understand.

Ever since Alice's first year at Hogwarts, Snape's attitude toward her had drastically changed. He began to trust her more; he began to share more with her. It was empowering, knowing that someone so secretive and reserved as Severus Snape would seek her opinion and share things with her that he certainly wouldn't share with anyone else.

Alice had learnt a lot about the wizarding world in the past three years, but what she'd learnt even more about was the man who raised her. When she was a little girl, she thought of Snape as this mysterious, great figure; an enigmatic teacher who appeared in her life to teach her how to live it. He was a curious addition to her 'parents', Aunt Honora and Uncle Ernest. He was something of a mentor, whose wisdom carried her through life.