A/N: Here's the 8th chapter of CDL, and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 8:

As Alex began to work on her potion, not even looking up at the board as her memory supplied her with the instructions and various shortcuts, she thought of the incident in the corridor. She added a few teaspoons of crushed snake fangs and moved onto the next step, she looked over at hermione's potion, since she was the brightest witch of their year- not counting herself- she saw that Hermione's was only a very light green. Not the final forest green as the instructions said. Alex looked down at hers, several steps ahead and saw that her's was now turning a nice shade of the forest green of the finished product. Hermione seemed to have felt eyes on her and looked over at Alex. she smiled and looked down at Alex's potion, after a moment, her eyes seemed like they could widen no further, she finally whispered in a shaky voice, "H-how did you finish so fast? The potion it's self should take at least two hours, and then the simmering time adds on another hour. The professor said that there was no way for us to finish today." She said, looking from Alex's potion to her own in confusement. By now everyone at their table was watching Alex and Hermione, clearly awaiting the explosion that was sure to come from Hermione at being bested by another.

Alex smiled, nothing as bright as the one's she normally did, but a small uptilt of her lips. Many who saw this thought of how much like the potions master she looked. "I am a potions master's daughter. I know things. And besides, he said there's no way for you to finish. I know I can finish such an easy potion as this with my eyes closed, and he knows as well." She said, waving her wand at the fire beneath her cauldron, rising the flame and lowering the flame every few moments. After about two minutes, she put out the flame all together and bottled her finished potion.

After she had finished, she walked over to her Father's desk and set it atop the table. She allowed him to nod approvingly, and give her a small smile, before she walked back to her seat and sat down tiredly. She waved her wand lazily and watched in amusement as her cauldron sprouted legs and walked over to the cleaning station. she stifled a laugh as it then sprouted arms and began washing itself as a person would do. She imagined it humming a tune and clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the giggle she felt rising up within her.

the entire class watched in amazement and Alex rolled her eyes and looked to her Father. he gave her a disapproving look and then went back to grading his papers.

Unbeknown to the rest of the class, Neville was diligently working on his potion, he reached over and plucked a few cacti needles out of their jar. Little did he know, but cacti needles weren't needed. As soon as the needles had touched the potion, it exploded in a white flash. Alex, who was sitting across from Neville jumped back in shock. She didn't see the foaming goop on her arm until it had burned though the material of her robes and had started burning her arm. She screamed in pain and shook her arm, ridding herself of the goop, but managing to hit Draco -who had come to her aid- in the face. Her Father dashed over, looking around at the mess. Neville had managed to get himself cleaned by Hermione muttering "Evanesco!" before he could get burned. The only one's really hurt were Alex, who had a large red burn on her arm, and Draco, who had a bloody nose and a swollen lip from Alex's fist connecting with his face.

Severus looked back and forth between Alex and Draco, making sure they were otherwise okay. He told the class to put a stasis charm on their potions and then leave. As soon as everyone had done so, he turned to Alex's burn.

Alex cringed and hissed in pain at her father's gentle, cold touch. She knew he was being as gentle as possible, but it still hurt like hell, and she bit her lip to stop herself from cursing out. Severus saw the pain his daughter was in and directed her to his desk chair. Once she was there, he began murmuring spells to help heal the reddened skin. After that had been done, he summoned a burn salve from his store room and began rubbing it on her arm. A moment later, the burn was gone, and her arm was only a pinkish color. She smiled in thanks and looked to Draco. She gasped at the sight of him.

Draco's face was bloody from where he had wiped the blood from his nose. His nose was still bleeding profusely and his lip was swollen and puffy. She covered her face at the sight. Severus let out a breath before calmly transfiguring an old ink bottle into a chair and pushing him down into it gently. No doubt the blood loss was making him weak, because he sank into it like a weak sponge. He then began murmuring several spells to stop the blood flow and the swelling. After that, he summoned a cold, wet towel, and began cleaning Draco's face with it.

Once Severus was done, he looked between the two and sighed. "I'm done. I'll have the house elf's bring down dinner. Just stay here. Draco, your not quite ready to walk just yet. Alex, you... should just stay here and talk to Draco. I need to go to the Great Hall." he said, before disappearing though a hidden passage.

Alex looked to Draco, uncomfortable with being alone with him after the corridor incident, and then looked down at her hands. She clasped them, and unclasped them, unsure of what to do.

Draco opened his mouth to speak.

A/N: Ooooh, another cliffie... Sorry guys, I just couldn't help myself. Please review and tell me what you think's going to happen next! :) Thanks for reading!