Disclaimer: All that you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling.

A/n: This story is for the "Slytherin Switch Challenge" by Paris in December. Its a Build Your Own Plot Bunny. Story will feature Tracey Davis/Severus Snape and some Tracey Davis/Blaise Zabini (not in that particular order). Tracey Davis is a Slytherin girl in Harry's year, so the timeline will more or less be her school years and easy to follow, though if you have questions, you can leave them in a review and I'll make an effort to get back to you on it.

Story to be rated T because I don't think I want to bother with agonizing over scenes of a sexual nature (least not in much detail if there are any), although there will probably be a fair bit of curse words.

Summary: Tracey Davis swore to never fall in love, but love is a force of nature that can not be stopped, even by a difficult, willful girl. Tracey Davis/Snape, Blaise Zabini/Tracey Davis.

Difficult

"'Cause when you're fifteen and someone tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them."

-Taylor Swift, Fifteen

Chapter 1: Fifteen

Tracey Davis.

It had taken him a bit to place the student to the name when Professor Dumbledore had mentioned it. Severus supposed if he was the only one that had been summoned to speak of her to, that she was in his house and if he was having such a hard time placing her, was because she was a first year and hadn't been long at the school.

He went over the first year girls and after some thought, he conjured up a bleary image of a small, thin first year with dark hair who wore rectangular, black-rimmed glasses. She was a quiet girl, he didn't think he'd ever heard her speak. Because she was not an exceptionally good student in his class, nor a disaster, she didn't call any of his attention.

Severus wondered why Professor Dumbledore had summoned him to the Headmasters office to speak of the girl. Severus knew she wasn't a troublemaker because if she had been, he would have been able to place her faster. After a discussion they had, Severus was grimacing. No, as he'd suspected, the girl had done nothing wrong. However... he was sure that after this night, he would have no trouble placing her in the future.

He wasn't guilty about blanking on her after searching for her in the Slytherin common room. He'd asked Pansy Parkinson if she knew where the girl was, and the girl had grimaced and said she had no idea and had no reason to. Daphne Greengrass, having heard him marched up to him and told him that she knew Tracey a little better than most, and that he could probably find her in the Library.

Severus walked into the Library and peered around the entrance, wondering how he was supposed to locate the girl. "Do you need something, Severus?" Madame Pince asked as she was walking behind him carrying a small stack of books, while another much large one floated behind her. Severus turned and gazed at the woman.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Tracey Davis would be-"

"Muggle Literature Section," Madame Pince huffed impatiently before walking away. Severus furrowed his brow at this for two reasons. Madame Pince, most unhelpful librarian he'd ever met, who he suspected hardly knew any of the students that ever came to school, knew Tracey Davis by name and knew where she would be without seemingly any doubt? And furthermore, muggle literature? He'd never known any Slytheirn to know or even care to know anything about muggles, much less their literature.

It seemed so odd to him, though he thought perhaps it wasn't all things considered, but he couldn't bring himself to think about it as he made his way through the library, looking for the section Madame Pince had indicated. He had something he needed to do, that was rather unpleasant. He didn't think he was an adequate messenger for tragic news. The person receiving, especially one quite so young, would need comfort and he was a taciturn person who usually bordered on cruel when he did choose to speak at length. However, there was no choice in the matter. He was her Head of House and according to Professor Dumbledore, the girl was as unknown to the rest of her Professor's as she was to him.

Severus steeled himself for the moment as he found the muggle literature section. It was all the way in the back of the library. It was practically a nook, covered in dust and in dim lighting. Curfew was drawing nearer, and Severus had to squint his eyes a bit as he searched the girl. He saw a dark little bundle on the floor near the window.

As he drew nearer, he noted that the girl sat on he floor with her knees nearly drawn up to her chest. She cradled a book in her hands, propped up on her knees. Her dark hair was loose and curtained her small, pallid face. She didn't seem to be wearing her glasses and Severus wondered how she could see considering she had bangs that were swept to the right and seemed long enough to cover her right eye.

He watched as the girl tensed as he approached and turned sharply to see who was coming. When her left eye caught sight of him, he watched as her small dark brows furrowed before she narrowed her eyes at him and regarded him with slight suspicion. "Miss Davis?"

"Yes, Professor Snape?" she asked politely in an audible, steady tone that almost seemed defiant of something he didn't know. She closed the book she was reading and got to her feet. Severus almost grimaced at the fact that she still didn't even reach his shoulder in height and that her school robes made her look even smaller. The only thought running through his mind was the fact that she was so young.

Severus reached into his pocket and drew a letter form it. He paused for a moment before handing it to the girl. As he handed it to her, he looked into her eyes which inexplicably were able to hold his gaze. Tracey Davis; Eleven; Slytherin; and probably muggle-born or in the very least raised by muggles.

She frowned as she took it and regarded it. Noticing her name on it, she opened it while shooting a last wary glance at him. She took a steady breath as she turned her gaze to the letter, and Severus could see how her shoulders tensed as though she sensed that she knew what she was going to read.

He watched as her hair fell about her as she looked down and her eyes started scanning the note. Her hair was pretty straight and barely reached past her shoulders and fell in layers. He stood quietly and noted when she started to take deep breaths, her shoulders rising and falling unsteadily. He watched as she frowned deeply as she started biting on her lips as thought to keep them from trembling.

The book she'd been holding fell to the hardwood floor with a dull thud as Tracey scrunched the letter in her fist. When she looked up, Severus saw a single tear roll down her left eye, quickly racing down her cheek. With one of her fists, Tracey wiped the tear away, and Severus wondered if she had been close to her sister who'd just passed away. She seemed more under control than he'd expect any eleven year old would be.

Either she didn't understand what death really meant, or she wasn't so close to her sister to require an earth-shattering response. Her dark eyes latched on his, and the way her brows were shaped and considering the expression her face had, he felt that she was angry. However, the way her eyes sparkled told him otherwise. Without thought, he found himself going through the memories at the forefront of her mind.

He saw a younger Tracey, maybe seven or eight at the time, roaring like a feral animal at a slightly older girl with long, straight, brown hair. He saw an even younger Tracey, maybe three or four years old, curled up against that same older girl, falling asleep as a story was read to her. He saw a Tracey, not much younger than the one that stood before him presently, sitting and watching her older sister with awe as the girl played the violin masterfully. He saw Tracey staring enviously at her older sister speaking with a woman he assumed was their mother.

"What now then?" Tracey said. Severus regarded the girl cooly for a moment. Though she seemed able to control the urge to cry, her voice trembled with the emotions she was trying so hard to keep at bay. Her voice was raw, not smooth as he'd heard it earlier. He could hear deep pain, and anger in her tone, but the tilt of her chin told him that she was too proud to allow herself to show her despair anymore than she already had.

He bent and picked up the book she dropped. "Its been arranged for you to go home today. You will go pack some of your things and I will be dropping you off at home. I will pick you up in the afternoon on Saturday," he said in the same brisk tone he used in his Potions lectures, as he looked down at the book she'd been reading. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. He was a little surprised by the selection as he was aware that the themes in the play were beyond the mental scope of a typical eleven year old.

However, as he looked up and found the dark eyes of Tracey Davis, hardened against whatever pain she was triumphantly managing to put aside, he had more than a feeling that she was not a typical first year. Not even close. In his head, he thanked the heavens for this. No blubbering child he had to somehow manage to provide comfort to.

Severus reached out to hand the book back to the girl. She took a look at it and furrowed her brow. "To be or not to be..." she mumbled as her lips trembled a bit. She shook her head as she ducked it and walked past him. Once more, he could her shoulders trembling a bit as she walked away. He looked down at the book she failed to take and furrowed his brow, wondering why that would make her emotional. However, he didn't have time for this and merely set the book on a shelf and walked away, following the girl.

Together they exited the library in silence and made their way through the halls. Severus could hear every ragged drawing of breath from the girl he had to accompany so he didn't bother checking to see if she was all right. Under the circumstances, he didn't expect her to be, but she was holding it together.

Walking towards Slytherin seemed to be taking forever, and he would have been relieved when they finally made it, but the fact remained that he still had to walk the girl down to the gates and accompany her all the way home. "I'll wait for you here," Severus said as they stood outside of Slytherin. Tracey merely nodded and walked inside Slytherin without muttering a word or looking at him. He didn't have to wait long, no more than ten minutes when she returned with a cloak and a small bag slung over her shoulder.

Once more, they headed out silently towards the gates. Because of the bitter cold out, being as it was early February, they made their way briskly. Severus was slightly surprised when they approached the gates and found Professor Dumbledore standing there. He was standing, seemingly waiting for them, with his hands held behind his back.

"Miss Davis, I'm very sorry for your loss," Professor Dumbledore said as they two Slytherins came to stand before him. Severus turned and watched the dark-haired child slowly look up. She stared blankly at the headmaster before shrugging her shoulders. Professor Dumbledore frowned slightly at this. "Has Professor Snape explained that given the circumstance you will be given leniency on your grades for the rest of term." Once more Tracey shrugged as she looked around, clearly disinterested in the topic. "I see, well we could discuss it when you return if you wish. Once more, you have my sincerest condolences."

"Did my mother say it was a suicide?" Tracey asked dully, her voice barely more than a whisper as her eyes slowly wandered to look up at the Headmaster's bespectacled gaze. Severus was slightly taken aback. All he'd been told was that Tracey's sister had passed away in an accident.

"Your mother merely said there was an accident. Do you have reason to believe your sister would do harm to herself?" Albus asked with a frown as Severus too furrowed his brow in thought, thinking back to what the girl had mumbled earlier in the library.

"I don't think Marie is ever really happy. Mother thinks because she smiles she is... but she's never heard Marie play the violin in her room, but I've heard her heart breaking for years," Tracey said as her gaze wandered off and she stared with a frown into the dark night. Her voice sounded coldly detached, like she was merely reciting poetry she's read and memorized, with putting no thought to its words or the meaning behind them. "She's too sensitive, like Victor and he killed himself before I was born, so Marie's predisposed to it."

"Victor?" Dumbledore asked.

"Marie's father," she responded, still staring off. She then turned to look at Dumbledore, "He's certainly not mine." Severus wondered at how she was so sure, and could hear the anger and defiance in her tone. It was almost as though she had revulsion to being associated to such a weak creature... or feared that the same predisposition her sister had, would be hers too.

"Well your mother said it was an accident, perhaps-"

"I'm not wrong. Marie writes me almost daily. She hasn't written for two weeks," Tracey said angrily, though Severus didn't know if it was because of the implication that she was not right, or if she was merely projecting the anger she felt towards her sister. "She withdrew, which means she was composing something new and when she does that... I wasn't there! I was supposed to be there! I was supposed to be there to keep the pieces of her together!"

Severus was startled at the girls sudden shouting and the way tears were now trailing down her cheek. His mind flashed to the memory he had seen of her earlier. The feral creature yelling at her older sister, let loose on the Headmaster and himself. Severus was at an utter loss at how this girl could be cold and emotionless one moment and then a torrent of anger the next. And then suddenly, she was sobbing, and her little shoulders shaking as her face dropped.

He watched in near horror and awe and confusion as Professor Dumbledore stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the girl. He watched as the girl started twisting and shoving, beating on Professor Dumbledore's middle, trying to get away from him, but Dumbledore merely held her tighter until suddenly she stopped fighting and melted into the embrace, clutching at his robes and sobbing. "How... could... she.. just... leave me," she sobbed and panted uncontrollably, barely able to get the words out, and her tone muffled by Dumbledore'r robes.

Dumbledore stroked the girls head and made cooing sounds as he stared with a frown down at the girl. "She wasn't thinking straight. When people plunge to deep in the darkness, they can no longer see," he murmured sadly.

For a few minutes, Tracey Davis continued to sob into the robes of the Headmaster, her shoulders shaking less as her sobs slowly died away. Soon, she was merely sniffling as she took a few deep breaths. When finally, she was making no noise, she pulled herself away from Dumbledore and wiped her face off on her sleeves. She refused to look up as she apologized.

"Its all right, my dear. It's best to let it all out," Dumbledore said as he smiled slightly at the girl. She merely nodded her head, but she still seemed incapable of looking up. Albus turned and handed something to Severus as he said, "I think that you and Professor Snape should get a move on, its getting quite late. Take care Tracey, and we will see you in a few days."

Tracey nodded and turned away. She looked up only enough to see Professor Snape and followed him as he exited the now open gates of the school. Once they stood beyond the gates and made their way a bit off, she was startled when he suddenly clenched a hand over one of hers. She'd barely looked up when she felt as though her lungs were being squeezed. For a few seconds, she found it hard to breath, but it was over before she knew.

Tracey staggered back when she felt the ground beneath her feet once more and Professor Snape had pulled his arm out of her grasp. She felt extremely nauseous and had to huddle over her stomach for moment, shutting her eyes tight and pressing her lips in a thin line for fear of throwing up. "What are you doing," she heard Professor Snape ask. Tracey didn't say anything as she merely took deep and steadying breaths until the nausea passed.

"What was that?" she asked as she looked up, once sure nothing from her stomach would come up if she opened her mouth.

"Side-along apparition," He replied as he turned and studied the girl. As his eyes caught her face, he thought she looked rather sick. Also, her eyes were puffy. He surmised that was an after-affect of the crying she did. She seemed to notice his scrutinizing gaze as she suddenly glared at him before quickly looking away.

"Where are we?"

"Alley near the Leaky Cauldron," he said tersely as he pulled her by the cloak towards the street. He stood at the curb and raised his wand. Promptly a purple, triple-decker bus appeared to which Tracey looked up at with wide eyes, her mouth hanging slightly open in surprise. Severus would have been amused as he turned to look at her, but for the circumstance. He merely grabbed her and hauled her up after him. He then proceeded to hand a slip of paper and some coins to the conductor before once more hauling the girl to the back where he motioned for her to take a seat on one of the beds as he sat opposite of her.

"You didn't have to tug," she said as she took a seat. Severus didn't reply to this.

"You should hold on," he advised. She looked at him suspiciously, until the moment the bus started moving and she jolted where she sat. Immediately she grabbed one of the bed posts before glaring at her smirking Professor.

Truly, she had nothing against Professor Snape. After all, he was her Head of House and he had a favoritism for Slytherin that was far too obvious for him to deny. Though the subject he taught, she wasn't great at, she was at least relieved that he was indifferent towards her. Yes at times when he walked around he handed her some criticism on how she was doing it wrong, but he did that with everyone. She was grateful that a comment here and there was all she ever got. She knew that he could be rather nasty, after all, she did have Potions with the Gryffindors.

However, she knew that before tonight, he didn't even know what she looked like. She was just another faceless Slytheirn in the sea of his Potions class. She was invisible to him. She felt that he being her Head House, he should have bothered to know in the very least what she looked like. However, she'd caught the way he'd said her name when he found her. It wasn't a Miss Davis, may I speak to you? The tone was clearly, are you the girl I'm looking for?

Not that she was greatly annoyed by this. She had a feeling that unless you were Draco Malfoy, it was best not to be on Professor Snape's radar. Besides, she didn't even bother allowing her housemates or anyone else get to know her too well, why did it matter if Snape knew her or not?

Realizing, she was kind of staring and that he hadn't even noticed because he was staring out the window, Tracey looked away. She didn't really want Snape thinking she was staring at him. That would just be weird and awkward. However, what else had she to do? Getting lost in her thoughts was hardly an option tonight.

Tracey turned and looked out the window as she held tightly to the bed's post. She hadn't even noticed that they were moving really fast. She could hardly even see the streets of london whizzing by beyond the window. "How long is this going to take? Why couldn't you just apparate to my house like you did to that alley?" she asked, not turning to look at her Professor.

Severus turned and looked at Tracey Davis. Her hair was shielding her face from view. He wondered if she was always this curious, or if she was just trying to take her mind off what awaited her at home. He'd never heard her speak in class, so he thought she couldn't be the very curious type. However, he supposed that wasn't necessarily true. There were simply students that didn't like asking questions in class because they thought other people would think they are stupid.

"I don't know, I imagine not too long. And you can't apparate to a place unless you can visualize where you're going," Severus explained in deadpan, obliging merely because it would keep her mind on something other than the death of her sister so he wouldn't have to sit uncomfortably and watch her cry again.

"Can everyone apparate?" Tracey asked, still not looking at him as she leaned her head on the post.

"You must take a test to get an apparating license in order to do so and while anyone may learn to do so, there are many incapable of it. Neville Longbottom, for instance will probably never be able to do so. The boy can barely walk, without tripping over himself," Severus said, to which Tracey snorted. Severus turned his gaze to the girl, surprised how she chose to show amusement. He didn't recall knowing very many girls even in his childhood that would allow themselves to snort without feeling self-conscious about it, which Tracey Davis certainly wasn't.

"So I guess you have to be a certain age to do it too? Like when muggles get their driving-licenses?"

"Yes," he replied as he watched her. More and more, he felt certain she lived with muggles.

"What happens if you apparate wrong?"

"You get splinched, meaning you leave a part of your body behind. It can be rather painful and gruesome."

Tracey shivered as she pictured it. "Like apparating needed a reason to be more unpleasant. It felt like when you go through those tight water-slides. All darkness and no air, makes you feel all claustrophobic," Tracey said with a grimace. Severus suspected she meant a muggle amusement-park as he really didn't know what she was talking about

"You're claustrophobic?"

"A little," she replied without thinking. Silence fell over them as they both turned and looked out windows, looking out on opposite sides. Tracey was aware that this was perhaps the most she had said to someone at any given time since she started going to Hogwarts. Severus thinking that this was the longest conversation he'd had with a student that did not pertain with school matters. Both found, that they didn't like it very much. However, they were both aware that it was necessary to keep her mind distracted.

"So, Hamlet?" he said as she was about to ask him something. However, he asked before she was able to open her mouth and she turned and looked at him questioningly.

"I like muggle literature," she said with a shrug.

"You're not wearing your glasses," he suddenly said as he furrowed his brow, only just noticing. He hardly remembered her from class, but he was sure that she was the only Slytherin girl in her year with glasses.

"I only wear them in classes, when I need to see the board. I'm near-sighted. I can't see things that are far away, at least not clearly," she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she once more turned and looked out the window. She was surprised when the bus suddenly stopped, causing her to fall back a bit on the bed. When she sat up and righted her self, she frowned as she recognized the house out the window.

Severus watched as he shoulders sagged a bit and she gazed down. Severus turned to see what she was looking at and understood. "Come along, Miss Davis," Severus said as he got to his feet. He made his way off the bus, only certain she was following because of the sound of her sneakers dragging on the ground.

They got off the bus and approached the small suburban house slowly. It was a two story home with a small yard in the front. There was a small kissing gate, as well as a tree with low branches that over-hung and covered part of the house. Slowly, Severus walked towards the gate and opened it, motioning for Tracey Davis to head in before him. She did so without saying a word or looking at him and walked over to the front door where she rung the bell. Severus stood behind Tracey and looked around. The neighborhood was definitely muggle.

They weren't waiting very long before the door opened. Severus turned and looked at the tall and slightly thin, woman that stood in the doorway. She seemed to be in her mid to late thirties. She was the same woman he had seen in one of Tracey's memories, and like the older girl in those memories, she had straight, light-brown hair which she seemed to prefer keeping in a bun. Judging by the long skirt and button-up blouse she wore, she was definitely muggle.

"Oh Tracey," she said as she took the hand on the door, and the one which held a white handkerchief to her nose to pull her eleven-year-old daughter into a hug. Severus watched curiously as Tracey stood tensely in the embrace her mother gave her, not returning it and rather instead clenching her hands to her side. A moment later, her mother let go, as she only just took notice of the man standing behind her daughter. "Oh, I'm sorry. Mina Davis," she said as she straightened and dabbed at her eyes before reaching out with a hand.

Severus grudgingly held out his hands for her to shake. He was never one for personal contact, with anyone really. "Professor Severus Snape, I'm your daughter's Head of House, it was my duty to deliver her safely home," he said, taking back his hand as soon as he was able too without seeming like he was rudely snatching his hand away.

She nodded and gave him a watery smile. "Thank you," she said as she hesitated for a moment. "Would you like to come in for something to drink-"

"No, thank you. I'm sure you'd like some time alone with your daughter," he said respectfully as he was able to. "Mrs. Davis, Miss Davis," Severus said with a curt nod before turning and briskly walking away.

XX

Tracey shut the door behind herself as she entered the dark room. She didn't even bother with turning the lights off as she crawled into the full-sized bed in the middle of the room. She'd had a very long and trying day, what with having to spend most of it in a funeral home. For the most part, she'd wanted to spend it sitting on a couch, brooding. However, doing so meant only more people wished to come over and talk to her, wish her their deepest condolences and tell her about what a wonderful girl her sister had been and how it was such a tragedy that she had died so young.

To get away from it, she decided to spend her day kneeling at the open casket of her sister. There was an arm rest on the kneeling-bench, on which she leaned her arms against to settle her chin on them. Because she was so small in stature, she didn't have to hunch over to be able to do so.

Kneeling there for hours on end was painful, more emotionally then physically, though she wasn't sure if that was because she was so focused on her grief to notice the discomfort in her knees. Kneeling-be there, starting at her sisters youthful-pretty face, as thought she were merely asleep was painful, because she knew she'd never again see those eyes open again. It hurt to know, that her sister would never more smile at her indulgently, with patience and grace when her temper got the best of her and she lashed out at the only person around that seemed to care.

Tracey wasn't sure what she felt more, sadness of never being able to spend time with her sister again, or anger at her for doing this to herself. While she knew that her sister was weak spirited, she'd never thought her to have a selfish bone in her body. No matter how much pain she was in, Tracey didn't think that there was any excuse for what she did. She had taken her own life, with no thought about how much pain it would cause to everyone she left behind.

Tracey shed tears of anger and loathing, shaking with outrage and not even recalling that there were others around to witness. It was as if the world had disappeared and there was, was Marie, young and beautiful in a coffin, never to wake again.

In that moment, Tracey hater Marie. Hated her more than she had ever hated anyone, more than she hated the man who had abandoned her. She didn't understand how a person could be so weak. It wasn't just the depression, because Tracey felt that demon beginning to grapple with her already in the past year or so and recognized it for what it was. However, she didn't know how Marie could be so weak as to entrust her only happiness to a man. How had she not learned that lesson already, when her own father hadn't loved her enough to stick around?

Auntie Jane, who'd never married, knelt next to her at one point. Tracey hardly realized she was there until her aunt told her "At fifteen, when a boy tells you he's in love with you, you're too prone to believe them, so much that you'll give to him your hearts innocence and once he's taken it and leaves you, the hear-ache can seem monumental."

Tracey had turned to her, and was startled to find that she'd been crying so much that she could hardly see out of her eyes do to their puffyness and the tears still gathering in them. Tracey had asked her how Marie could have been so stupid and Jane merely smiled sadly at her, brushing hair from her face and told her that when she was older and fell in love that she would understand.

However, Tracey did not understand. She'd read so many novels on love... undying, passionate love that fills you with yearning, agony and happiness unrivaled by everything else... but even at eleven Tracey understood somewhere deep inside that love never lasts. That more than anything it leads to suffering, that it is imperfect and to believe anyone can love with such intensity is just to set oneself up for grave disappointment.

Tracey grabbed a pillow and hugged it to herself, breathing in deep her sister's scent, which still clung to her room. As her emotionally weary soul sank into sleep, smelling vanilla and lavender, she swore to herself that she'd never fall in love, and let someone break her heart.

TBC...

A/n: Read and review!