Chapter 1 Two Snakes…

Braedus held Betony close to him and pressed his lips to her temple. Her unmoving body was dead weight as he lifted her, carrying her up the walk to his father's house. She didn't seem to be breathing, and Braedus couldn't find a pulse. This scared him. The sun was shining brightly, as if mocking them. Her eyes fluttered, but only for a second as he propped her against the house to open the door. "I love you, Braedus," she whispered.

"I love you, too," he said as he reclaimed his hold on her and carried her inside and to the nearest empty bed, which turned out to be his own. "Don't leave me! Stay with me, Betony. I can't lose you now…"

Present time…

Betony sat hunched over her Potions text, looking up at the instructions that Professor Snape had put on the board. She had her elbow length black hair pulled back into a ponytail, as not to interfere with her work. Slicing her mandrake root carefully, she measured out one half teaspoon and shook it into her bubbling cauldron. She stirred the brew three times clockwise, and according to her father's old potions text, she added another stir counter clockwise. She smirked in her typical Slytherin way, knowing too well who the text had belonged to originally. She also knew that the Potions master had no clue she had it, nor would he. She had placed several concealing spells on her precious text, so that anyone who looked upon the pages of the book would only see that…a potions book.

She could hear Braedus Cathey grinding his teeth beside her, and turned to stare at him. "Do you mind? Not only will that break your teeth, but it is very annoying!" she whispered fiercely.

This earned her a dirty look. She turned back to work on her potion. It was turning the expected color of split pea soup.

"Time's up. Bottle your potions, and bring them to my desk," Snape ordered brusquely.

Ladling the potion into a vial and labeling it, she rose to take it to the Professor's desk.

She heard her fellow Slytherins laughing and then a loud crash. Turning to see what was going on, she saw Kevin Longbottom lying on the ground. She narrowed her eyes, this angered her because Kevin was a friend of hers, though she said nothing.

"Five points from Gryffindor for sheer clumsiness. Longbottom, clean it up," Snape growled.

She continued toward the desk in the front of the classroom. Snape eyed her carefully. "Potter," he hissed.

"Yes?" she asked, clearly unafraid of him. She had no real reason to be. He didn't pick on her the way he did Lily. He reduced her sister, who was two years younger and Gryffindor, to tears on a bimonthly basis.

"Looks just fine, put it on the desk," he commanded, though his face didn't show the compliment she had just been given. In her first two years, the name Potter had caused her a lot of problems from the Potions master, despite being in his own house. He had come to realize, however that she was extremely studious and cared about her work. This, of course, was after she had suffered much embarrassment at his hands.

"Thank you, Sir," she smiled slightly. Returning to her desk, she retrieved her things and headed back to her private dorm. Well, semi private anyway. She shared it with Braedus, who didn't seem to give a rip about her.

Her mind drifted back to the previous year, at Hogsmeade, where she had finally had enough of his nonsense and kissed him. She had been smitten with him since third year, and felt as if these feelings wouldn't die down anytime soon. He protested that he didn't feel the same way, but she regularly caught him staring at her. He, too, had suffered several embarrassments – these being at the hands of Lily and Archie. Archie Weasley was their cousin, Ron and Hermione's oldest boy. He, as most Weasley's were, was in Gryffindor.

Since the attack on Hogwarts, almost twenty years ago, each house had it's own Head Boy and Girl. Braedus was the Slytherin Head Boy.

She saw him speed past her, shaking his long black hair as he went. He paused, and half-turned toward her, "Well, are you coming or not?" he said, his deep voice echoing through the dungeons.

"Yes, I am. But you seem to be keen on racing, so I figured I would let you get there first," she said, somewhat annoyed. She eyed her potions partner carefully.

"Honestly, hurry up then," he said, scowling at her before turning and continuing his flight to their common room.

Upon reaching it, he mumbled the password – Peanut Butter Beans – and rushed inside. She flew in on his heels, and turned on him. "What the bloody hell is your problem?" she gasped, panting for breath. She had narrowly escaped getting hit with the portrait as it closed.

He shot her another dirty look, but sat down at the large desk they shared. "We have dinner, Head duties, and homework."

"Yes, I know all that, but it is Friday, after all. I have a date, as it were, and I don't need you yelling at me," she said as she sat down to begin her homework. "I don't have that much, either, I began it on my free period. Term began only two weeks ago, breathe," she sighed.

"Yes, and as you well know, this is our N.E.W.T. year," he said, raising one sculpted eyebrow quizzically. He studied her, his ebony eyes boring into her green ones.

"Stop that! I have already told you, Legilimency won't get you anywhere. Why do you persist?" she said, rolling her eyes. "Turn about is fair play, you know. How would you like it if I returned the favor?"

"As if you could, you filthy half-breed," he fired at her. A smile threatened the corner of his lips, this was a game they played quite often.

"As if you are one to talk! Your father was half blooded and your mother was pureblood. Just like mine," she quipped. This was true, to the best of her knowledge. He didn't talk about his father much, only to say that he was raised by his grandmother, as his father was a Death Eater. She had gathered that his homelife was very unpleasant. Though his step-grandfather had been killed in their fifth year, when his father had discovered that he was beating Braedus. They were close friends, though not as close as what Betony would have liked.

"I know. I just love getting a rise out of you," he said, his eyes still boring into hers.

She felt a blush creep into her pale face, and broke their eye contact. She didn't want him to see that she was wishing she could get a rise out of him, too, just in an entirely different way.

Her mind wandered back to their sixth year, the kiss…

In front of the Shrieking Shack, they had been arguing because she had went on a date with Jacob Thomas so that her friend Celestia Martin could go on one with Bailey Finnegan. The three were all Gryffindors, and she had excused herself early when it had been obvious that both Bailey and Celestia were enjoying themselves.

She walked out of Madam Puddifoots and down the road toward Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to get some joke supplies. He stepped out of the shadows and accosted her, yelling at her. "Did you have a good time? Rubbing elbows with the Gryffindorks? I'll bet you had a blast, didn't you."

She lowered her head, but raised her chin defiantly only seconds later. "No, as a matter of fact, I bowed out early. They were getting along well and I wasn't there with who I wanted to be with!" she said coldly, taking a few steps toward him.

He met her, staring her down. "Yeah, and who would that be?" His breath was coming in angry pants by that point.

She looked up in his face, realizing her nose was only an inch or so from his. She grabbed his head and pulled him into a kiss.

He kissed her back, roughly, skillfully, and she felt shivers running through her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck as one of his hands pressed her against him, right at the small of her back. His other hand was entangled in her raven locks. Roughly, he pushed her away. "Liked that did you?" he said, his voice angry and his eyes cold. He turned on his heel and left her standing there, cold wind ripping through her clothes, and cold tears running down her warm cheeks.

"Hey! Betony! Hello…" he called, waving his hand in her line of vision, bringing her back to the present.

"What?" she said hastily.

"So who's this hot date with?" he asked, eyes downward.

"What do you care?" she screeched as she rose to her feet, running to her room. Slamming the door shut behind her, she picked out the tightest outfit she could find. If she were going to have to go on this date, she would at least make him squirm.