Thereare666WaystoLove: Here's the next chapter, thanks for the review

Ashes Falling: Thank you for all your insight. The detention is in this chapter. Read and see what happens, thanks for the review

Amberglass: Thank you.

Special thanks to .the.artful.dodger.v2. for the excellent beta job on this chapter.

ooOoo

So crawl inside, my head with me. I'll show you how it feels to be, fucked up like me. I'll show you how it feels to be, to blame like me. Ashamed like me.

Schizophrenic Conversations- Staind

ooOoo

Severus Snape did not look up from his marking as the door to his classroom opened noisily. He knew she was late, and he acknowledged this sentiment before she opened her mouth.

"Sit," he hissed at her as he stood to approach the desk where she was standing. Of course, it was at the back of the room; most inconvenient.

She complied.

"Professor?" she asked, tentatively as he passed the desk.

He looked at her, an impassive expression upon his face.

"What would you have me do?"

He did not answer. Instead, he set a piece of parchment down in front of her, along with a quill. Tentatively, she picked it up, looking at him with a confused look in her eyes.

Lines? Since when had Severus Snape given lines as a detention? Was this another one of the quills Umbridge had forced people to use in detentions, cutting the words she had assigned them into the flesh in the back of their hands?

"The assignment I am giving you, Miss McCormack," he ignored the look she was giving him. It seemed she did not have the capacity to see that he saw no point in sending her out into the Forest with that--- giant, for want of something stronger--- Hagrid, as Dumbledore had done on previous occasions. "Is that you will be writing out what had you so fascinated in Potions class, to be handed into me by the end of this detention."

Her mouth suddenly dropped open. She would not, under any circumstances, reveal to Severus, what had been written in that journal of hers. She had been trying to find a way to say goodbye to Neil, and that, in her opinion, was her business and her business alone. No matter if she was betrothed to the school's Potion's Master, she would not yield.

Scowling into her sleeve, she bent over the parchment and set to writing. She stopped only for a moment... no, there was no searing pain in the back of her hand. Coughing slightly, she watched as words detailing her assignment (or punishment, as it was warranted), appeared at the top of the parchment.

Explain, in detail, the reason why the material in today's Potions class was ignored. Do not forget that Professor Snape shall be assessing this explanation and assigning it a grade. This, if satisfactory, shall be regarded as penance for your truant behaviour.

Allison couldn't help but feel that he had purposely waited until the end of class to walk over to her desk and snatch the journal out of her hands. She had been so close to finishing her first draft of her plan...

When he'd taken it there was no mistaking the fury she felt, the fear that he might read what she had written in the book. Upon getting it back she had felt nothing but sheer relief. The fact that he hadn't read any of it made her confident he had no idea of her plans. Legilimens or not, he had never invaded her mind for the purpose of turning her thoughts against her. Of course, she knew that nothing with Severus Snape was ever certain nor concrete. At any second, should he choose, he could have read her thoughts at any time she was alone with him. Instead, he had not.

Instead, he had asked her to write out why she hadn't been paying attention in class.

Glaring at him between the curls that were now hanging in front of her face, she set to her explanation.

I guess if I have to write to the parchment as though it were a person I'd be able to explain myself and not have to worry about what I'm writing.

She smiled slightly at the thought, and touched the quill to said parchment.

Parchment, she began.

Though I cannot see where you keep your brain--- it gave Ginny Weasley quite a bit of grief when she'd poured all her emotions into an enchanted diary a few years ago--- I don't suppose you'd be considered a Dark object. You're just a bit of parchment! A harmless bit of parchment!

Of course an old diary doesn't seem too conspicuous either, does it?

Considering a Hogwarts professor (and not Lucius Malfoy, a Death Eater by any account), placed you upon my desk, I suppose I'm safe. In regards to your question, you're asking me why I ignored the material presented in my Potions class today. The answer is simple, but also complex (that doesn't make much sense, does it?) Allow me to explain...

I received a letter from the Ministry of Magic at the end of July this year, stating that I must be married three months past my seventeenth birthday, and have given birth by the time I've turned eighteen. It is an arranged marriage, and there is only one man that has matched the eligibility requirements in my case, as set out by the Ministry.

His name is Severus Snape. He is a professor here at Hogwarts, and his class is the class I chose to ignore today. I had been writing and scribbling in one of my old Muggle journals, trying to come up with a plan.

Plan, you may ask? What sort of plan? Why would you need a plan? The reason for that is, again, simple yet complex.

I am a figure skater. My partner and I have been together since the ages of seven and nine. Thanks to this marriage law, I am now engaged to Professor Snape, and I must figure out a way to let Neil down gently and tell him that I must leave him and our partnership. I pose a threat to him, because I am a witch, and he is a Muggle. He does not know that I am a witch, and I am doing everything in my power to keep it as such. This is no easy feat, because Neil has sacrificed a great deal so that we, as ice dancing partners, would have a chance to work our way up from the bottom, and show the world what we are capable of. I am terrified at what he will say, or do, once I tell him the truth. I do not know if he will raise his voice, or cry, or profess his seemingly undying desire to make me happy (he has already done so on many an occasion--- bit annoying really--- but I digress).

I was just finishing the first draft of my plan during Potions when the journal was confiscated. The pages were starting to fill with my brilliant thoughts (I use this term loosely and with sarcasm), and I know the first draft is both impractical and improbable. I've debated back and forth between an elaborate plan that includes mention of dragon pox, and telling him the truth.

I've decided I'm going to tell Neil the truth, but I don't know how I'm going to do so. That is the next stage of my plan.

So, now I have stated the reason for ignoring Professor Snape's Potions class. It was, admittedly, something important (but this is guesswork. How would I know? I wasn't actually listening). I've sworn to Professor Snape that it shan't happen again, and it won't. I know there's a time and place to be working on this plan, and it is not during Potions class, at the back of said classroom.

Hopefully, this explanation is satisfactory, and I hope he won't give me further detention, because this was not something I was intending to repeat. Another detention may mean question after question about why I've kept this from everyone around me...

Before she could sign her name or protest, the parchment flew out from underneath her quill and on to Severus' desk. Damn it, he'd given the parchment a non-verbal command, and it had worked!

"You may go, Miss McCormack," he said between bared teeth.

"But, sir, I wasn't..."

"I said you may leave," he hissed again, turning away from her.

And without another word, Allison nodded, quietly slipping out of the classroom and closing the door behind her.

ooOoo

Severus Snape read over the paper he had taken from her just before she had left the classroom. Cheeky little bint! The 'explanation' merely consisted of facts he was already aware of, barely an explanation in his opinion. Nevertheless, he did not want to see her anymore than was of absolute necessity. She was barely seventeen years old, and his student, he reminded himself.

Yes Severus, she's barely seventeen years old, but have you forgotten she's also your fiancée?. A voice in his head reminded him. She's quite intelligent, mind you. To keep something like this plan hidden from you for as long as she has.

Severus squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose and sitting back in his chair.

Plans? Pain? Secrecy? What does she know of these things? he asked himself.

Oh yes, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you? You were always devising elaborate plans to escape home, weren't you? You learned pain from your father's belt, secrecy at his knee. And your poor mother, helpless in her own right, unable to save you.

Say nothing more of this, I forbid it! he shouted to the voice in his head.

Who are you to forbid me from saying anything? the voice chided. I am in your head, I am part of you.

I will not yield to you!

Oh but you have, the voice chided him again. You are speaking back to me, aren't you?

I shall not...

Oh yes you shall, the voice insisted. I am always here to remind you Severus, and I am not always this lenient. I am just as vindictive as you are.

You are nothing but a voice in my head!

Aren't most of us driven to madness by the voices in our head, Severus? The voice was taunting him. Did you not swear to keep Harry Potter safe to stop me from weighing you down?

You've never left...

That's right, Severus, I've never left. The voice was agreeing wthwith him now. I am always here, as is Lily.

Lily is dead!

Of course Lily is dead, why do you remind yourself of such things? Though she is dead that does not mean she is not still part of you...

She cannot be!

And why can she not be?

Because Allison McCormack is my future, and Lily is my past.

Ah, Severus could imagine the disembodied voice nodding in agreement. But you are not willing to let Lily go, are you?

Enough! Severus silently shouted at the voice, ripping himself from his thoughts and sliding down the wall of the dungeon to tuck his knees under his chin.