A/N: Oh, gosh, I am so sorry I've been away. Things have been so very hectic. I solemnly swear that I am going to post more often than I have been. As always, thanks to everyone who reads/reviews this story. I own nothing.
I spent the next week trying desperately to convince myself that none of it had ever happened. That it was all just some strange dream I'd had, and that none of it was real at all. Only every time closed my eyes I was back in that room, and he was there, and it was so undeniably real. Whenever Draco gave me that sympathetic look or my father kissed me on the forehead, it was so viciously real.
No, there was no denying it, no pretending it was only in my head. The chill of fall was overwhelming the air, but it hardly compared to the chill within myself. I took to spending all my free time locked away in the Slytherin dorms, reading or scribbling in my notebooks. Anything, really, to distract myself from the fate to which I had been sealed.
As the days of September came winding to an end I was scurrying about the halls of Hogwarts between classes. My mind was anywhere but there, my books clenched tightly to my chest as I passed like a ghost through my fellow students. I certainly wasn't paying attention to where I was going, which was the exact reason I was suddenly sent sprawling to the ground as I collided with another body.
"Oh!" I gasped, my black hair falling all into my face, hands flying out to brace myself.
"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry! Here-" I looked up to see a hand outstretched towards me, offering me help up.
"Thanks," I muttered, accepting the grasp and pushing my hair out of my face with my free hand. And then I was standing, and my books were being handed to me, and I was locking gazes with the deepest green eyes I'd ever seen, an emerald color that could have rivaled my own.
"Harry Potter," I breathed, more to myself than anything, but he heard it nonetheless.
"Yes," he replied. I watched as his eyes traveled over my body, pausing on the Slytherin embroidery on my robes. I saw a bit of wariness creep into his expression. My own remained perfectly composed. Somehow he managed a small grin. "If you want to see the scar, you only have to ask. I'm rather used to it by now."
To that, I only shrugged. "We all have scars," I murmured. "I suspect they're all the same."
A frown appeared upon his face, just for a moment or so before it passed. "You look familiar."
Readjusting my books, I tucked a loose strand of hair away behind my ear. "I'm in your potions class," I said, and as much as I tried to deny it, there was some sort of hurt in me that he'd never noticed me. Sure, he was supposed to be the salvation of the wizarding world, and I was just another girl with too much sorrow in her eyes. But was I so insignificant that he hadn't even noticed my existence?
Realization overcame him. "You're Snape's daughter, aren't you? Elissabeth?" I nodded. So he was aware. But only because of my father. Because he hated my father, distrusted him, and so he knew who I was because I was guilty by association. And, oh, he was so right, he shouldn't trust me, should stay away unless he wanted the Dark Lord to reach him.
"I should go," he said then, so abruptly it almost startled me. "Sorry for, uh, knocking you over."
I shrugged. "It's alright. It's almost an honor to be run down by the boy who lived." Harry allowed a quiet laugh to pass through his lips.
"Nice seeing you, Elissabeth." And just like that, he was gone. He had been right there, right in front of me. I should have been trying harder. I should have been-
"Lissa!" The sound of Draco's velvet voice brought an instant wave of relief crashing upon me. "Come out and watch Quidditch practice." As he fell in place beside me, I smiled up at him. His hand found mine and gave it a tight squeeze.
A devilish gleam crept into my eyes. "Okay, but only because I wanna see how fast you can score." Draco laughed, leaning in to nuzzle his cheek against my black hair, and with our fingers still entwined we started off together.
