#hufflepuf

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𝕺𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖙 of Christmas break, I stayed in my bed except for bathroom breaks. It was quite embarrassing because dad would have to help me down to the bathroom. My leg was not quite ready to walk on it's own. Severus showed up every other day to give me potions and ointments and performs spells and also, bring news.

"Greyback's being favored." Severus said, applying a thick green paste to my leg that burned and I stared up at the ceiling, gritting my teeth and squeezing dad's hand so tightly, he kept wincing.

"Why?" Dad asked through gritted teeth as I dug my nails into his hand.

"The Dark Lord is quite pleased to know that Elizabeth is having a child. He thinks the child will have her powers. Of course, I think it's actually good news. He won't harm Elizabeth until he finds out whether the child has powers or not and he won't harm the child unless he finds out that the child doesn't have powers. Of course, if he finds out the child doesn't have power, he'll take Elizabeth and kill the child. Or keep the child as bait."

"That doesn't sound like good news to me!" Dad said indignantly as Severus wrapped a bandage around my leg.

"It means they're both safe. From death at least." Severus said, tying off the bandage on my leg and then removing the ones from my stomach. I breathed deeply through my nose. "And probably for many years too since Elizabeth's powers didn't develop until she was eleven. And of course, he might be vanquished before then."

Dad was silent for some time. I on the other hand, thought it was good news. "I don't think the child will have powers." I whispered. "I don't think its genetic."

"Doesn't matter." Severus said quickly. "He's not going to get his hands on you anyways."

Severus squeezed my hand before applying some ointment to my cuts. Apparently, there was some sort of magical dust on Greyback's claws. Wasn't lethal, but it left scars that couldn't usually be cleared up. Severus however, had inside knowledge and knew how to reverse them. It was just going to take time. I whimpered, partly from pain and partly from fear.

"He's not going to touch you Elizabeth." Sev murmured, leaving purple paste on my wounds now. He started to wrap them up tighter. "I promise."

I nodded, squeezing his hand and then closed my eyes, letting my body rest until it came time to drink the potion that Severus had made. It was disgusting, but necessary, and I took it. I'd asked before if it was safe to take. There were many potions people shouldn't take if they were pregnant. It was perfectly safe according to Sev.

Dad gave us a little privacy, leaving the room, and going down the stairs. Severus immediately sat next to me, putting a hand on my stomach. The baby was restless, always kicking recently. I didn't blame her, I always wanted freedom too.

"She's going to be lovely." I murmured, feeling quite sleepy. "I can picture her already, inside my head."

"Oh?" Severus questioned. "And what does she look like."

"Snow white." I said. "Black hair, alabaster skin, red lips, blue eyes."

"Who's Snow White?" Severus asked, sounding slightly concerned. "I certainly hope that's not what you named her."

I laughed and then reached over, opening the top drawer of the bedside table, pulling out an old Disney storybook.

I flipped through the yellow pages until I came to the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. "This is her." I said, turning the book around to show Snow White, pretty as a picture, her black hair in curls tucked up around her chin. Her lips as red as an apple and her skin as white as snow. There might've been a song about it.

"If this is what our child looks like, then she certainly will be beautiful when she grows up." Severus said. "But I imagine she'll have brown hair, brown eyes like her mother."

"Perhaps somewhere in between, but I'm quite certain she'll look like this." I said stubbornly.

Severus smiled and leaned down and kissed me. I put a hand up to his cheek, pulling him to me. Perhaps things would have gone farther if dad hadn't cleared his throat at the door. Severus pulled away from me slowly, gathering his things with his wand, and he was gone.

I would have liked Severus to have been there for New Years, but my ability to walk was enough celebration for dad and I and we went to bed before midnight even occurred.

Dad and I got a Ministry car to Kings Crossing where he helped me load my things into the train and I went back out onto the platform to say good-bye to him.

"Please be careful." Dad said, holding my face in his hands. "I want you to stay out of trouble, no matter what. Nothings' worth your health at this point, nothing. Not with a child in you. You're not caring for your life anymore Elizabeth, but someone else's life too."

"I know Dad." I said, hugging him tightly. I hated parting with him. He hugged me back fiercely.

"I love you sweetheart." He said, smoothing strands of hair back from my face because I was crying. He kissed my forehead. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I know." I said, smiling weakly and chuckling. "It's just the hormones. I love you dad."

I kissed his cheek and climbed back onto the train, going back into my compartment where I started on reading A Game of Thrones.

Hermione soon joined me, her own things pushed up in the compartment. "That's a horrible book." She commented as she sat down across from me. I glared at her.

"You can't have possibly read this book yet." I said, barely looking up from the pages. "It only just came out."

"I got it a few days after the publishing date and read it in three days." Hermione recited off the top of her head. "It's barbaric and horrible."

"I'll make my own conclusions by the end of the book." I said, determined to like it.

Hermione shrugged, "So how was your break?" her eyes were resting on my cheek and I touched it gingerly. The scars had faded. Severus would continue the healing process when I returned to school.

"Oh, you know." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Dad and I spent Christmas at the Burrow with Harry. Tonks was there Christmas day. Bellatrix Lestrange and Greyback showed up some time afterwards."

Hermione dropped her mouth and said in an incredibly bossy voice, "Don't tell me you actually went after them!"

"I was trying to help Harry." I said, bookmarking my place and setting the book aside. "Besides, I hadn't foreseen anything. I mean, what if I hadn't gone after him? I don't know what would have happened either way. Besides, I thought it was just Bellatrix. I don't know when Greyback showed up."

"Greyback was the one who clawed your face?" Hermione asked.

I nodded, "Because I'm dad's daughter of course. Greyback was the one that bit dad, though you probably knew that."

Hermione nodded, "I assumed, though I wasn't 100% sure."

I sighed. "Dad was so upset."

"You weren't bit were you?" Hermione asked in a sharp voice.

"No, it wasn't full moon so Greyback thought biting me would be a waste." I said scathingly. "Apparently, he's waiting for a full moon."

Hermione shuddered, "You really need to start being more careful."

"Believe me Hermione, I'm not going to go looking for trouble. . . well not anymore at least."

Hermione glared at me before pulling out the Daily Prophet and we spent most of the rest of the train ride reading in silence.

We disembarked the train, carrying out things to the carriages and we started towards the castle.

Hermione and I split up once we were in the castle. She went to put her things away in the Gryffindor Tower and I went to Severus' office to move back in.

"How's your leg?" Severus asked in greeting as I set my things down in the corner.

"Much better." I said brightly, pulling out my art pad and setting it down on the bed. I pulled out all of the drawings that I had drawn over the break and laid them out and then asked, "Have you seen anywhere like this or even know what these symbols mean?"

Severus took a long time, examining each of the drawings carefully and spent a lot more time looking at the six images on the piece of paper.

"No." Severus finally said. "Why?"

I sighed, shaking my head and putting the pieces of paper together. "I wish I knew why." was my answer and I put the pad back in my bag.

I kissed his cheek and said, "I'm going to go and hang out with Hermione. I'll be back soon."

"Right." Severus said, slightly disconcerted, watching me leave.

I headed down to Hagrid's where Hermione, Trang, and Hagrid were playing with Buckbeak. They were deep in conversation about something and as I got closer, I realized that they were talking about the attack on the Burrow.

"Elizabeth!" Hagrid exclaimed, "There yeh are!"

"Have a good break Christmas Hagrid?" I asked carelessly, petting Buckbeak on the nose.

"The best!" Hagrid said, a might bit to cheerful.

"I overheard you guys." I said, my lips threatening to twitch into a smile. "I know what you were talking about."

"How could you be so stupid!" Trang exploded angrily. "Don't you know what-"

"Yes, Trang!" I said quickly, in case she, like dad, mentioned the baby. The last person that I wanted to know about my child was Hagrid. I loved Hagrid, but he couldn't keep a secret.

"Dangerous stunt, that was Elizabeth." Hagrid said in a worried tone. "Don' know what yer father would've done if he'd lost yeh."

Guilt filled me immensely. Like I hadn't felt bad enough already. "It's not going to happen again." I said fiercely.

"Unless you don't foresee it." Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

I scowled. So they were all going to team up on me now, were they? "Look, I made a mistake and it's not going to happen again, alright? And I'd really appreciate if the entire school didn't know about this, okay?"

Without another word about the incident, we turned our attention to Buckbeak/Witherwings. I still called him Buckbeak because I hated change. Changing somethings name to another was quite uncomfortable.

Hermione, Trang, and I went up to Gryffindor tower as the hours started to get late and in front of the portrait was Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione called, hurrying towards them. Trang and I followed. "I got back a couple of hours ago, I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck- I mean Witherwings. Did you have a good Christmas?"

"Yeah, pretty eventful. Rufus Scrim-" Ron started.

"I've got something for you, Harry." Hermione interrupted, not taking any notice of Ron. "Oh, hang on- password. Abstinence."

"Precisely." The Fat Lady said in an extremely feeble voice. I looked up at her portrait before she opened up to the common room, and saw that she looked quite pale and slightly sick. Could portraits take ill?

"What's up with her?" Harry asked, stepping through the room.

"Overindulged over Christmas, apparently." Hermione said, with a roll of her eyes as she stepped inside the Common room. Trang and I did not follow and instead, turned away and started walking towards the library.

Trang immediately turned on me once we were in a lonesome hallway. "You have a child and you went after a Death Eater?" She hissed.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Trang, c'mon." I pleaded. "I didn't know there were going to be two-"

"The number of Death Eaters is irrelevant." Trang hissed. "if there was one Death Eater and ten of you, it's still irrelevant. You could be the one out of ten that gets hurt."

"Trang!" I said sharply. "I already talked with Dad and Severus. I am never, ever going to engage in a fight until I have this child."

"Not good enough." Trang said sharply. "You have to stay alive for the child, you know? Don't get in any more fights, period."

"You're not my mother." I said, sharper than I intended.

"No, but I'm your best friend." Trang said fiercely.

"You are very emotional about this subject." I said slowly.

Trang sighed, calming down, rubbing the temples of her forehead. "Yeah, I know."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

She turned, looking out the window. Snow littered the grow, but it wasn't sticking well. "I had to do volunteer hours in America. I worked with children who had lost their parents. They don't grow up right, Liz. I mean, some of them do, but not all of them. That's why they're in the center. Drugs, assault, robbery, I mean, would you want your child to end up there?"

"She's not going to." I said fiercely. "But. . ." I spoke softer, taking in a deep breath, "I understand what you're saying."

Trang put an arm around my shoulder, "Alright then, so we're in agreement?"

"We're in agreement." I said with a smile.

Well, at least I didn't make an unbreakable vow.

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APPARITION LESSONS If you are seventeen years of age, or will turn seventeen on or before the 31st of August next, you are eligible for a twelve-week course of Apparition Lessons from a Ministry of Magic Apparition instructor. Please sign below if you would like to participate. Cost: 12 Galleons.

"What do you think?" Ernie asked.

"Well I'll be signing up." Susan said, putting her money in the box after writing her name down at the bottom.

"I'll have to think about it." I said. I wanted to check and see if apparition was okay to do if you were pregnant.

In Charms, it was quite evident that Hermione hadn't gotten over her ignoring Ron stage. I couldn't blame her, but it was starting to get quite tiring.

Today, we were jumping into producing fountains of pure water. It was much simpler than many of the other charms we had been doing before break. I'd performed the charm last year, though I'd spoken it, rather than nonverbally. But I was one of the first to produce the pure water.

Seamus managed to produce a sprout of water which knocked Professor Flitwick off of his feet. He looked quite ashamed of himself, but he was immersed in whatever conversation he was having with Ron and Harry.

Hermione was stiffly producing jets of water, ignoring Ron completely. I was sitting on the other side of the room, watching silently. I still couldn't believe that the two of them got married. How ridiculous. Harry and Hermione were a better couple. I wondered what their reaction would be if I told them. But then again, that would leave Ginny out, and I couldn't do that to her either. Besides, Harry already had developing feelings for Ginny and I had no reason to crush his emotions.

I wondered who else was eligible to set up with Hermione, but I didn't get much time to think about it because Professor Flitwick wanted me to show him my charmwork.

I hurried back to the office after class was over with a new stack of homework from all the classes that I'd attended today. Severus seemed buried in paper work too and it seemed like it was more midterm than the start of term.

He sighed, tossing his quill down and pulled me onto his lap, our lips meeting quickly. I kissed back passionately, letting my lips part and Severus gave a small moan of ecstasy. He stood up, moving me carefully so that my feet reached the floor and then we moved towards the bed.

Being careful of my right leg, we became more tangled than we had been in the rose bush garden hideout. I'd always imagined that when a woman became pregnant, the couple stopped having sex because there was no point. However, from a view point, the sex almost seemed better in a way. Perhaps it was to encourage having more kids.

Every touch, every motion, every nerve was blissful, shiver inducing, and lovely. His lips kissed the curve between my waist and hip. His fingers trailing down my side. His hair, ticking my cheek while our lips interlocked in a dance.

As the sun started to sink, we lay there, our arms around each other, my cheek resting on his chest and his cheek resting atop my head. The white sheets were strewn around us, covering parts of us, leaving other parts of us exposed.

"I had a question." I murmured, looking at the other side of the room, absentmindedly tracing shapes with my finger across his abs, but not paying attention.

"Yes?" Severus asked politely, his fingers sliding up and down my thigh.

"Is it safe for me to take the apparition classes?"

His fingers stopped moving and I moved my head upwards to look at his face.

"Well..." He said slowly, looking up at the ceiling, his head tilted in a way that the light was thrown over it so I couldn't read his expression clearly. "If you already knew how, but you don't. Therefore, if you splinched yourself. . ."

"Right." I said. "So no apparition classes."

"Right." Severus said, kissing the top of my head. "Sorry."

"It's alright." I said, sighing in disappointment. I snuggled into his shoulder, the impending doom of bad grades from not doing homework didn't seem very important at the moment. Severus pulled the comforter up around my shoulders and I fell asleep quickly.

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"𝕯𝖚𝖒𝖇𝖑𝖊𝖉𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖆𝖎𝖉 𝖞𝖔𝖚'𝖗𝖊 like Tom Riddle." Harry said as he joined me in the library.

"Excuse me?" I asked, revolted.

"It was a compliment." Harry said.

"Comparing me to Voldemort is not a compliment." I said, disgruntled.

"He said that Tom Riddle was an unusually talented and very good-looking, naturally drawing attention and nearly all were most favorably impressed by him." Harry said, grinning at me. "That does sound like you."

I glared at him. "So I suppose the memories you watched last night were quite interesting?"

"You saw them?" Harry asked. "It would be nice not having to explain them again."

"Quite right." I said. "Of course I saw them." I rolled my eyes.

"Anyways." Harry said impatiently, obviously there was a question on his mind. "Hermione said she'd never heard of horcruxes-"

"The library won't hold any information on horcruxes. Dumbledore took all of the books out of the library in hopes to explain more about Voldemort." I said immediately.

"Do you know what a horcrux is?" Harry asked excitedly.

I nodded. "When you kill someone, you lose a bit of your soul for committing such a crime. I'm not sure about all of the magic, but you can put a bit of yourself into an object. Like Riddle's Diary, like the ring Dumbledore wore on his finger that cursed his hand."

"Dumbledore didn't mention any of that." Harry said, frowning.

"Yeah well if I wasn't here you wouldn't know about horcruxes until you wrangled the memory out of Slughorn."

"Can't you just tell me the memory?" Harry asked and I looked into his green eyes and quickly looked away.

"No." I said flatly. "But I can tell you when the time is right."

"Rons right. That is frustrating." Harry muttered.

"When Aragog dies." I sighed. "Hagrid will invite you guys down. You will drink a small amount of Felix Felicis in order to give you some luck. After you drink it, you'll know what to do. The luck drink will tell you."

Harry continued to glare at me half-heartedly and I grinned. "Tough love Harry, tough love."

"So I should just wait?" Harry asked.

"No." I said. "You should ask him the first chance you get and pretend I never gave you this advice, alright? You'll ask quite a few times. It'll just depend, alright?"

"Sure." Harry said and then asked, "What did Snape want with you on Christmas?"

"Oh!" I blushed, looking down at the table. "Well, you know. Just to spend time together."

Harry shook his head. "I still can't believe your with him. He's-"

"Don't." I said softly. "Please, Harry? I understand you hate him and you can say that all you want to anyone else, just not me, alright?"

Harry and I stared at each other. "Alright." Harry said, sounding a bit frustrated.

"I do love him." I whispered. "That's hard to believe, I know, but I love him." I stared out the window, determinedly not looking at Harry.

"I'm sorry." Harry muttered.

"Let's just not talk about him and me, alright?" I asked, glancing down at the table again.

"Hermione and Ron are still fighting." Harry said at once.

"Yes." I sighed, "You'd think Hermione would have put her differences aside but then again, Ron shouldn't have dated Lavender in the first place. It's a bit of a conundrum, isn't it?"

Harry sighed, "I think he can date whoever he wants, can't he?"

"Sure." I said genially. "But Hermione believed that they were going to Slughorn's party together and then all of sudden Ron and Lavender are together like a bunch of squids. It's a bit disgusting if you look at it from an outside point of view. Hermione was my friend first so I'm going to defend her to the end."

"Are they going to be friends again?" Harry asked, sounding quite exasperated.

"Yes, but it's going to take some time."

"Do you know if Trangs going to take the apparition courses?" Harry asked after a moment of silence.

"Huh." I said, completely shocked by his question. "Well I suppose she might. She hasn't said anything. She is technically of age to do so despite her year."

"You'll be taking them too?" Harry asked.

"No." I said reluctantly. However, I didn't have time to explain in great detail why I wasn't going to be taking the lessons because the bell rang and we quickly gathered our things to get to potions class.

I sat down next to Ernie and Hermione sat across from us. I wasn't surprised about this considering she was going to be angry with both Ron and Harry.

"Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott's Third Law... who can tell me-? But- ah!"

Both Hermione and mine hands had shot up in the air and Slughorn was looking between the two of us, seeming to try and pick a favorite.

"Miss Granger?" He finally called and I lowered my hand, slightly disappointed.

Hermione recited at top speed, "Golpalott's Third-Law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-poison-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate-components."

I stared at her, stunned. How was anyone supposed to have followed that? I should consider myself lucky that I knew what she was even talking about.

"Precisely! Ten points to Gryffindor! Now, if we accept Golpalott's Third Law as true then we must know that the antidotes in common are refracting with the ingredients' endorphins and..." I looked around. Everyone's eyes were as slack as though we were sitting in History of Magic class. Ron was doodling on his paper and even the Ravenclaws looked quite lost. "...which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by Scarpin's Revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component that will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements into urea which will then help with the prions and form an antidote to the poison and so, I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"

Hermione and I were up and half-way across the room before the rest of the class even started to move.

I grabbed a phial of a sky blue liquid and carried it back to my seat. Hermione was already dumping ingredients into her cauldron, setting up glass phials to put ingredients into, but I went more cautiously.

I observed the crystal phial, finding that my poison was slightly glowing and its ingredients told me that this was Moonseed poison. With that knowledge, I pulled out the stopper and poured the poison into the cauldron and lit a flame underneath.

As Harry passed by, Hermione said brightly, "It's a shame that the Prince won't be able to help you much with this, Harry. You have to understand the principles involved this time. No shortcuts or cheats!"

I looked up briefly from having added lacewing flies to the poison concoction and saw that Ron was copying everything that Harry was doing. I rolled my eyes. Each poison was different. Ron was going to do horribly.

I carefully stirred three times clockwise before letting it simmer for two minutes. Meanwhile, I collected more ingredients and tools that I would need in the upcoming steps.

Hermione was dropping a thousand different things into her cauldron, ripping out a chunk of her own hair so that her hair was bushier than ever. She really wanted to beat Harry at this which was a really stupid thing to be attempting.

Carefully using a knife, I sliced some loose ends of my hair before dropping them into the cauldron and adding a pinch of lemon. I grabbed my mortar and pestle, crushing beetle eyes in a fine powder before adding them with a teaspoon of cinnamon.

I had long stopped paying attention to the rest of the group, waving my wand over the cauldron and adding beeswax before I started separating the ingredients and putting them into crystal phials. Hermione was jamming her ingredients into phials as fast as possible.

"Two minutes left, everyone!" Professor Slughorn announced.

I worked with ease, adding the final ingredients the last crystal phial- a drop of my own blood which I had gotten by pricking myself with a sewing needle- and I was done.

"Time's. . . UP!" Slughorn announced and everyone dropped back from their cauldrons except for Hermione who was trying to cram more ingredients into the phials. Hare and the Tortoise. Slower wins the race Hermione, I thought randomly, putting my crystal phial into a holder to present it. Then, I put my finger in my mouth to stop the bleeding.

"Well, let's see how you've done! Blaise. . . what have you got for me?" Slughorn asked, starting at the Slytherin table. I avoided looking at the table. I hadn't been able to be in the same room with Blaise for a long time. It was an uncomfortable situation.

Slughorn moved from the Slytherin's to the Ravenclaws and then, much to my disappointment, the Gryffindors.

Putrid fumes were emitting from Ron's cauldron and he had abandoned it, his task instead to avoid being poisoned by the fumes.

"And you, Harry?" Slughorn asked as he moved away from Ron's cauldron, retching. "What have you got to show me?"

Harry opened is hand which I knew contained a bezoar. I sighed in disappointment. While I did not fault Harry, I would've liked Slughorn to see that I had finished the antidote before he doted on Harry.

After about ten seconds of silence, Slughorn threw his head back, roaring with laughter. Hermione was seething and Ernie looked disappointed.

"You've got nerve, boy! Oh, you're like your mother. . . Well, I can't fault you. . . a bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these potions!" Slughorn announced joyfully.

Hermione didn't seem to be able to contain herself, "And you thought of a bezoar all by yourself, did you, Harry?"

"That's the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs! Just like his mother, she had the same intuitive grasp of potion-making, it's undoubtedly from Lily he gets it. . . Yes, Harry, yes, if you've got a bezoar to hand, of course that would do the trick. . . although as they don't work on everything, and are pretty rare, it's still worth knowing how to mix antidotes. . ."

I was starting, against my will, to get angry. He didn't inherit potion making skills from our mother! He was cheating! I felt quite infuriated and the only person who looked angrier than Hermione was Draco.

For about the first time, I wished everyone knew I was Harry's sister. Couldn't I be complimented about my potion skills because I'd inherited my mother's gift?

I took in a deep breath. No, no, that wasn't what I wanted at all, if I thought about it hard. I wanted to be known as a great potion-maker because I had the skills myself, not because I'd inherited them. Potion-making wasn't really a gene that was passed down from parent to child anyways.

The bell rang. "Time to pack up! And an extra ten points to Gryffindor for sheer cheek!" Slughorn announced, walking past our table.

"Professor!" I called, "You didn't check our work."

Yes, I was being selfish, but I couldn't really help it.

"Yes, of course, Miss Kane." Slughorn said, though he sounded more like he was humoring me, rather than actually wanting to check our work. He passed over Ernie's quickly, complimented Hermione slightly, and congratulated me on finishing the antidote and awarding Hufflepuff five points. I stalked out of the potions room in a bad mood.

"That wasn't fair at all!" Hermione seethed as we hurried to the library together. "You actually finished the antidote and I had fifty ingredients and Harry did absolutely nothing!"

"No." I agreed, "It wasn't fair at all but when it comes to Harry, people in our world seem to be a bit more willing to overlook his mistakes. Cheeky!"

"He would have failed if that had been Professor Snape's class." Hermione said, sounding as though she was barely listening to me.

"No." I answered. What were we talking about again? My blood was starting to simmer down a little.

"Miss Kane!" A sharp voice echoed down the hallway and Hermione and I stopped walking. I turned around and saw Professor McGonagall sweeping down the staircase towards us. "I must speak to you for a moment."

"I'll see you in the library." I muttered to Hermione and stepped against the side wall so that I didn't interrupt the flow of the crowd. "Yes, Professor?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Professor Dumbledore would have told you this himself but he is not here at the moment. He said that you are allowed to sign up for apparition classes and that he has absolute faith in you." She recited. Her facial expressions gave away nothing.

"Thank you, Professor." I said and I turned and headed to catch up with Hermione.

Once Harry caught up to us (I suspected he told Ron the outcome of talking to Slughorn first), my temper had fizzled out, though Hermione's had not, and Harry left soon after telling us the outcome.

I slipped away after class to go and see Severus but he was teaching a class. I wanted to go upstairs to the office to do homework, but that would be quite distracting to the other students. Instead, I went to the Hufflepuff common room and signed up for the apparition lessons. I wondered what Severus' reaction would be.

After the hour ended, I went back to Severus' classroom and up to the office where Severus was separating paper into three different stacks, a quill on the floor, and the inkpot laying on its side, ink spilling down the table and dripping onto the floor. He was saving the paper first.

"Scourgify." I muttered, cleaning up the ink. I picked up the pot and set it down on the chair with the quill.

"Thanks." Severus muttered, tossing three pieces of parchment onto one stack and the rest onto another. "An owl swooped through here."

"No problem." I said, kissing his cheek and setting my bag down and pulling out my homework before starting on the problems.

"By the way..." Severus said slowly, searching for something in his drawers, "You have an appointment with Madam Pomfrey tomorrow."

"I do?" I asked, puzzled, looking up from my potions homework. No one made an appointment with Madam Pomfrey and hearing those words was quite funny.

"Yes." Severus said, pulling out a fresh quill and slamming the drawer shut before sitting down in his chair, leaping up and removing the inkpot and quill from the chair. "It's a checkup, really, to see how the child's doing."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. I supposed I hadn't thought of checkups because I was in a magical school rather than in the muggle world. But muggle women went to doctors for checkups all the time to make sure that the baby was healthy. "That's fine."

"Good." Severus said, "I thought you might be difficult about it."

I stuck my tongue out at him before remembering that his back was to me.

I flew through the homework and when I was done, the sun had already fallen. I pulled out a fresh sheaf of paper and started to draw, letting my subconscious take over.

When I looked up again, Severus was deep in his papers, the candles low, the sun completely set. I set the pencil aside. Soot covered my fingers but there wasn't a single smudge on the paper. I set it down on the bed, grabbing a cloth and wiping my fingers while I observed the newest drawing of the strange place.

It was a hallway. The floor was tiled with a pattern of black and gold (if it was in color). There is a vine pattern on the tiles which also leads partly up certain parts of the stone walls till they reached the curved ceiling. But more unusual was that the hallway is filled with black chairs and café tables.

The tables and chairs are pushed up against the walls of the hallway in random order, not orderly. There are stacks of books on the chairs, all of them have gilded edges. There is also a cat, sitting on one of the tables. Its small and silver with large yellow eyes (if the drawing was colored).

There is a door between the vines, partly open, revealing part of a lit fireplace that is small and arched. I can see briefly that the floor is tiled still, checkered but also covered with rugs, navy colored (if the drawing was colored).

I set the drawing aside, placing it on top of the other drawings. All these drawings were unusual so they must be part of the magical world, it was the only explanation. But no one seemed to know where this place was. Not Tonks or Dad or Severus. But if this place was in the future, then no one would know about it would they.

Severus finally set his quill aside while I continued to add detail to the drawing. Adding thing, delicate whiskers to the silver cat. Defining the room to be more three-dimensional through the door. Adding a light here, a lightbulb there.

"It's lovely though unusual." Severus said, coming over, looking over my shoulder. He was shirtless and my heart started to pound, a complete overreaction considering how many times I'd seen him naked.

I set the drawing aside for a second time and hopefully the last time tonight. I stood up, running a hand over his abs. Severus pushed his lips against mine and we dissolved into each other. I wondered if it was possible to capture these scenes in drawing as well. But that might be a bad thing to do. What if someone found the drawings?

His fingers were cold, goosebumps appearing on my skin where he touched me. My hands were cold as well and I kept them under his back, heat radiating and warming them.

There really is no way to describe being together with someone. But it was sweeter, more romantic than that. It was perfect, the idea of a man and a woman that were meant to be together forever loving each other. Moving together as though they were of one mind.

That was how we moved, our mouths always met at the right moment, our hands, our legs, our bodies retracting and condensing and moving together.

No one could really understand how I could love someone older than me, someone like Severus. I suppose one only needed a night with him, one moment with him that he opened up and showed his true self.

His history was horrible to an outsider, to someone who didn't know what I knew. He was a Death Eater. He was a follower of Voldemort. He was evil and Dumbledore was a fool to trust him. He hated Harry Potter, he hates the boy who lived. He hated James Potter, he wanted them to die. His best friends are Death Eaters, he is using Dumbledore to keep him out of Azkaban.

But I knew what was true. He regretted joining the Death Eaters. He cared about Harry in his own way. He did not want Lily Potter to die and in order for her not to die, he did not want James to have died either. He was not evil. Dumbledore was not a fool to trust him. Voldemort was the fool.

And the sides that he didn't show anyone else. The sides that only I could see. The goodness in him, the love, the passion, the joy, the hopes, the dreams, the beliefs. Everything that made him, was mine to see, to explore, to exploit. It was mine to use and to love and to make passionately with. He was mine and I was his. We were us.

His fingers caressed my breasts, his lips made heart shapes on my neck, his manly parts made my female parts sore and loved. We rolled over so that I was underneath his weight. The candles went out in a gust, leaving smoke filtering through the room. His lips parted mine, pushing and caressing and loving.

Somewhere far away, bees were buzzing and keys were clinking in the wind and swords were clashing. Crowns were crashing and feathers were floating and hearts were beating. Somewhere far away, a heart beat slower and slower but I would never know about that heart, until everyone I loved was dead.