"I can only have you here for a year. While you're here I'm going to teach you the fundementals of potion making. You wont be seeing me again for a long while so I wouldn't get attached. I expect you to be on your best behaviour."

"Yes, Mr Snape." A much younger Mina said rather timidly.

Mina had been doing well at Hogwarts so far. She was already top of the class at History of Magic, Herbology and Charms, although she struggled at Transfiguration and took very little interest in Astrology classes. There was a small issue... Millicent. Spending most of her time in and out of class with Draco meant that she was mostly safe but this made Mina dread any alone time she had, when Millicent found her and started tormenting her all over again. One moment the two could be sat, reading quietly in the common room and the next Millicent would suddenly shove Mina out of her chair! She was starting to suspect the girl had something against her...

Their last lesson of the week was double potions, held in the lower most dungeons by Professor Serverus Snape, which they had with Gryffindor. Mina was excited by the idea of seeing the only man to show her any shread of kindness again. As the Potions Master took the register, he paused to comment on Harry Potter's presence in his class and immeadiately began to question him on various potion ingredients and their uses. A girl sitting near Harry, whom Mina recognised as the girl who'd questioned her on the train, seemed to know but Snape ignored her hand in the air. All of this had, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle in fits of sniggering. Professor Snape's gaze then fell in her direction.

"Miss Finn, would you like to tell Mr Potter, what the correct answers were?" He asked Mina, with almost a smirk on his face.

"Th-The ifusion would make a powerful sleep-ing daught. Bezoar is a stone thats ground and used in most poison remedies and Wolfsbane and Monkshood are the same herb." Mina said aloud; blushing red.

"Very good, Miss Finn," Snape responded in satisfied tone, "5 points to Slytherin House. Minus five from Gryffindor. You see, Mr Potter, fame only preceeds you. It's talent that makes you."

The lesson continued to go very well for Slytherin House. They were split into pairs, Mina working with Goyle and Draco with Crabble on the table beside them. Snape contiuned to show them favour, commenting on how skilled they were and how Draco had cut his ingredients to the perfect proportions and how perfectly Mina's boils potion was coming along in the practical test, when suddenly, there was an explosion of green and students shouting from Gryffindor's side of a the classroom. A boy from Gryffindor had added the wrong ingredient into his potion which melted his partner's cauldron and now a trail of corrosive green slop was seeping all over the floor and melting whatever it touched. Students were climbing up on desks and chairs to spare themselves being burnt. Mina hopped up on her stool just before it reached her feet but then the viscous liquid pooled in a spot under her chair and ate away at the legs, causing her to topple towards Draco, who caught her and pulled her on to his table.

"Are you okay?" He asked with a small note of concern.

"Yes." Mina replied quietly. "Thank you."

After class, once Snape had accessed the damage and finished verbally abusing the Gryffindors, Mina peeked to check no one was around before speaking...

"Did you want some help cleaning this, Uncle Snape?"

"No and don't call me that here. You never know who could be listening... Sir will suffice."

"Yes... um, sir."

"You can't sleep?" The little witch shook her head. Snape sat down on the end of her little bed. "... I'll tell you a story. Once upon a time, a boy was in love with a girl, who had the most beautiful green eyes and dark red hair. They both went to Hogwarts together and were really close friends until, one day, the boy and girl argued and he said something unforgivable that destroyed their friendship as well as the little joy he got out of living and he regretted it for the rest of his life."

"She couldn't forgive him?"

"Lily... she's gone. Dead. So he can't ever be forgiven."

"Why did she die?"

"Because... she was too kind a person..." Snape almost wished he hadn't told her the story.

"So being kind is a bad thing?" Mina asked.

"It's not a bad thing. But it can be painful. That's why you have to be careful of whom you trust."

"Can I trust you?" Snape was shocked by the fact a child would ask such a question.