The Slytherin table was abuzz with chatter. The Honourable Lyra Ivoire had slipped and hit her head while walking to the castle and had to be taken to the hospital wing immediately. The upper years were taking bets at what would happen and whether she would live. The younger ones looked distinctly green, apparently remembering the pool of blood that had spread out around the girl's body.

At the centre of it all, holding court was one Draco Malfoy. And he was not interested at all.

Lyra Ivoire was the least pretty one of the Ivoire bunch. The Ivoire family and its branches, including the Greengrass family, were said to produce the more aesthetically pleasing ones in the purebloods. The pug nose of the Parkinson, the horrid ears of the Crabbes all those undesirable traits were supposed to be bred out of them. Lyra was the ugly duckling, all sharp angles and bones and skin nothing like the lush curves that were favoured.

And even more important, she was just dull.

When Daphne and Astoria, her cousins, joked about how they wouldn't know she was a girl were it not for the thick heavy braid Lyra curled in on herself with a wan smile and barely contained tears. She was the easily bullied one, the tagalong.

The one that was usually forgotten. They might have gone through their graduation without knowing she was there, Merlin, she would probably emerge from the war unscathed because she was so easily forgotten.

But not anymore. News of her accident had spread like fiendfyre and her return was awaited by them all. Bets needed to be settled, money was to exchange hands and most importantly, the ranks were to be seen to. Because if she died, then Daphne's dowry was to increase exponentially and she would become even more desirous a bride.

And even worse, since his father's incarceration Draco had lost his standing as had most of the house. The Court was in chaos, a vacuum of power that left Zabini and Greengrass as the emerging political powers. It was only the fact that the Dark Lord resided in Malfoy manor that hadn't left him politically destitute and even that came with its own disadvantages. Already Draco and his mother's lives depended on the outcome of his mission and knowing that she was all alone in that house without his father and stuck with Bellatrix sent shivers down Draco's spine.

'He had enough to worry about', he thought, his eyes flickering to where Dumbledore was sitting at the staff table, 'Without thinking about house politics.'

And if Lyra died, the Greengrass girls would have a lot more power and money at their disposal. Marriage contracts that held the lone Ivoire girl as the primary holder would be passed on to Daphne, as would the connections that came with it. It would be harder than ever for Draco to find supporters if they had a powerful neutral family like Greengrass to rally around.

So the question remained, did Lyra live or did she die?

Severus strode into the hospital wing as quick as he could. He didn't care much for the Ivoire girl but she was one of his snakes. Things were going to be hard enough for them without this drama and he wanted to sort this out as quickly as possible.

Poppy wasn't there, which surprised him. She never left a student on their own unless she was at least in the office. The wards wouldn't notify her otherwise and it was unusual for him to not see her or her silhouette in the glass of the office. The faint smell of smoke caught his attention and he noticed the fireplace had been recently used for Floo and his worry grew. For Poppy to go to St Mungo's, it must have been serious indeed.

It surprised him, though perhaps it shouldn't have. They had spelled multiple doses of blood replenishing potions straight into her stomach before setting to work on her wounds. However, they did say that head injuries bled like a stuck pig and he had assumed it wasn't as serious as that.

The sound of hurried talking had him moving towards the screen in the middle behind which Ms Ivoire was supposed to be. Within a second he found himself staring at his student who looked at him with annoyance, but why was she annoyed?

"Ms Ivoire-"

"Who are you?" She snapped at him with a frown and Severus floundered. No student had ever dared to talk to him like that, certainly not unless they were Gryffindors and to hear it from Ivoire, who could barely get through a sentence without stuttering was beyond strange.

And why would she be asking him who he was, he was the head of her house for the past five years she couldn't possibly not know who he was unless...

"You've lost your memory."

She snorted but held her tongue so Severus held his. She would learn soon enough that such impertinence wasn't tolerated in Slytherin; the rest would make sure of it.

"I'm Severus Snape," He watched her face carefully and caught a flicker of recognition in her eyes. "Head of the House of Slytherin."

"Right, potions." She said softly and he corrected her immediately.

"DADA this year." The words flushed him with the cocktail of emotions it usually did, pride that finally he had gotten what he wanted but not in the way he wanted it at all, dismay that he'd been given the worst task ever and anger that the curse would make sure to claim him by the end of the year anyway.

"DADA?"

"Defence against the Dark Arts." He couldn't help the sneer, what was deemed to be Dark by the Ministry practically included bunnies and rainbows. They knew nothing of what the Dark Arts truly were.

"Right, well the nurse woman, she said I have a brother."

"Young Nathaniel, he's only just been sorted. Ravenclaw, I believe." The boy held promise, Severus couldn't understand what turn of events had placed such a bright child in Ravenclaw while they someone as non-enterprising as Lyra.

"Ravenclaw, right." She looked off into the distance thoughtfully before snapping back to him, "Could you tell me about the houses?"

Severus parroted the mottos of the houses, making certain to sneer at all but Slytherin but she didn't react quite as she was supposed to.

"What a terrible system. Instead of helping students become well-rounded in character it forces them to adhere to archetypes to fit in."

Severus was taken aback. It was a surprisingly uncommon point of view for her to voice, it had been the muggle parents that Minerva had to visit that had commented along those lines, not any Pureblood scion.

"But my brother, this Nathaniel, he's been informed that I'm awake? And my parents?" Her face darkened at that, "Assuming I have them?"

"The Lord and Lady Ivoire are yet alive." He confirmed. Although they might not be so for long if the Dark Lord had any plans for them. "I believe they shall be informed once the healers have a more definite prognosis for them to be informed of."

She frowned and Severus found himself bracing for another surprise. This was turning out to be one of the stranger conversations he had had with his Slytherins. "Am I not a minor then? It doesn't make sense for me to receive medical attention without the permission of a guardian."

"While in school the head of house acts as loco parentis."

Her eyes snapped up at him then and he found himself the subject of intense scrutiny. IT was odd to be at the receiving end of such a stare, he was renown enough in the Wizarding world that most people had already formed opinions of him.

"Interesting." She pronounced and he was saved response by Poppy and a team of healers tumbling out of the floo.

But 'interesting' was a word that applied to her more than it did him. Severus watched as the previously painfully shy Lyra manoeuvred the healers expertly, only allowing them access to her person once they swore an oath to make multiple copies of their assessment made and sent to her, her parents and sealed at St Mungo's. Their suggestions for experimental potions and spells were turned firmly down and threats so subtle were insinuated, that only the few Slytherins in the room even understood them. She cajoled, intimidated and manipulated them to release her from the hospital wing with the sorry excuse of a compromise to check in with Poppy once a week and before Severus knew it, he was making plans to have her reintroduced to everything.

It was hours later in exhaustion that he allowed himself to comprehend the fact that this year was going to be very different for is Slytherins. And with the state of things as they were, there might even be spill out to the rest of the school as they sat atop a volatile cocktail of suspicion, anger and outright hostility.

Hermione sighed as she sank into place between Harry and Ron. The boys were in so heated a debate about Quidditch that they hadn't even asked her why McGonagall had called her away. It would be a while before they did realise something was amiss, her boys had a tunnel vision when it came to the sport especially now with everyone else forcing themselves to talk about it as well, intent on ignoring the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. War loomed on the horizon and with the new task given to her Hermione might end up helping her enemies.

Not all Slytherins were evil. But cunning and ambitious meant an agenda of their own and Hermione hated all that political noise and was wary of Slytherins nonetheless.

Still, it was bound to be interesting tutoring Lyra Ivoire. They said she remembered nothing, no spells, potions, or anything and Hermione was the only sixth year who was far ahead enough in her studies to have the free time for it. She flushed in her seat thinking with pride of how McGonagall had praised her and even Snape had reluctantly admitted that she was the only one qualified for the job.

And it gave her an excuse to ask around about Malfoy. The git was up to something she just knew it.

It was interesting though that she had retrograde amnesia. It seemed like such a muggle thing and Hermione wondered how it was even possible. Magic gave them such power that they could wipe out specific memories with an Obliviate, how could they not restore her memories then especially when it was something as un-magical as a fall that had caused it?

"You alright, Mione?" Harry asked and she smiled quickly. "What did McGonagall want?"

"Professor McGonagall, Harry." Hermione couldn't help the roll of her eyes, "I'll tell you later in the common room."

He frowned but let it go. Hermione could already imagine how it would go, Ron would holler and complain about slimy Slytherins, Harry would calm him down, brood, and be suspicious and they'd both tell her to be careful.

She couldn't help the grin taking over her face. It was good to be backing home.