A/N: Apologies in advance for this chapter.

Also, warning as there is a flashback to Snape's dad, which gets into abusive territory. Comes at the end of chapter. There is a warning pre-scene, so feel free to scroll past and read through the summary at the end. Be safe, my dear readers :)

Cassandra sighed, half-glancing at the potion before her, and half-glancing over at Slughorn. She still had to find some way to retrieve that memory from him. She looked down at the book and added the ingredients along with the scribbled in notes. She frowned, eyeing one note he had made.

Sectumsempra—for enemies

She frowned and glanced over at the potion, giving it a slow stir as she thought. There had been a few spells in the book that she had only heard of in passing before, but that one…. That was the only one she had seen marked as something that sounded potentially deadly.

She shook her head to clear it, focusing on just the instructions for the moment. This particular potion was a bit harder to decipher as the Half-Blood Prince seemed to have shown this one to someone else. She guessed it was a female given that the notes had been written in blue ink rather than black.

To her surprise, she somehow managed to produce Amortentia—or at least something that looked the way Amortentia was supposed to be described. She sighed and poured some into a vial. Cassandra glanced over at the cauldron and smelled it, focusing on what scents she detected, scribbling them down onto a piece of parchment.

Peppermint

Books

Fresh dew

She nodded to herself and placed both items on Slughorn's desk. Cassandra paused, catching a glimpse of what Draco had written.

Apples

Fresh ink on parchment

Peppermint

Cassandra quickly set the things down, went to clean out her cauldron, and grabbed her things. She went out of the classroom and up to the Great Hall. She stopped in the entryway. Cassandra walked over toward the Slytherin table to where Draco was sitting.

She gasped and stumbled, half-falling as Greengrass bumped into her.

"Shouldn't you know to get out of the way when a pureblood is walking?" Parkinson pointed out.

"Shouldn't you have enough brains to watch where you're going? Or do you not have any because you're a pureblood?"

"At least I have status," Greengrass argued. "What do you have?"

"The ability to be a decent human being."

"That's not all you have." Parkinson grabbed a pitcher and tossed the contents over her. "Now your look is as filthy as your status."

"Just because I'm a half-blood—"

"Really? Because from the way you act, I would've thought that you were a filthy mudblood. Then again, your parents are Death Eaters, so that's just as bad."

"Don't call her that!" Draco shouted, getting to his feet.

"Why are you defending her?" Parkinson asked. "She's a half-blood. You're a pureblood. She doesn't need your charity, Draco."

"Cassandra's my friend. And if you mess with her, then you mess with me. Understand?" He sighed and grabbed her arm, dragging her out of the Great Hall. "Come on."

She followed him as he dragged her all the way to one of the lavatories. Cassandra frowned in confusion, recognizing that it was one of the girls' as he began running the sink.

"I can manage on my own," she pointed out.

"Getting all of that cleaned up on your own will take awhile," he argued, grabbing her bag from her. "And that's if there hasn't been any damage to anything in here."

"This is a girls' lavatory."

"And?"

"Last I checked, you weren't a girl?"

"You're really worried about that? No one will come in here, if that's what you're so worried about it."

"What do you mean?"

"Dragged you to Moaning Myrtle's lavatory. Or haven't you noticed that no one comes in here?"

"Oh, someone got a bit wet, hm?" a voice asked.

Cassandra turned, seeing the ghost there. She was surprised to see the ghost much younger than herself, wearing Hogwarts robes and a pair of glasses.

"Hello," she greeted. "You must be Myrtle?"

"You thought I was someone else?" She sighed and floated toward the other side of the room. "Or were you hoping I was someone else instead?"

"It was just a question. It's nice to meet you though. I've only really talked to one ghost before. Do you know Helena?"

"Who?"

"The Gray Lady. Ravenclaw's ghost."

"Yes. She haunts my house."

"You're a Ravenclaw too? That's interesting."

She sighed as she floated through a wall. "If you say so."

"You're talking with a ghost?" Draco asked as he inspected her things to see if they had been damaged.

"I find that talking with ghosts is easier than talking with living people." Cassandra shrugged out of her robe and sighed, staring at the rest of her clothes. "Of course this got wet too." She took her jumper off and waved her wand over it in an attempt to dry it off.

"Nothing seems to have been damaged," Draco announced. "I don't think it soaked through."

"That's a relief."

He nodded and took her robe, drying it off for her. "Why'd you have to go and argue with them?"

"They're the ones who started it."

"You could've done the smart thing and just walked away. Instead you had to get into a fight with them like you're some blood Gryffindor."

"It's not my fault Parkinson called me a mudblood! And just because she's a pureblood doesn't mean that Daphne can walk around with her nose permanently stuck up into the air!" She sighed and untucked her shirt, holding it out to dry it off. "Why are you even friends with them?"

"Daphne's a pureblood. I have to marry a pureblood. Pansy just comes with her, I guess."

"It still doesn't make sense. You're too nice for them. You should at least find someone who is nicer than they are."

"In case you haven't noticed, there aren't that many purebloods around. And then you're also forgetting that I'm a Malfoy, so I can't just marry any pureblood."

"Then forget your name and your blood status and just marry whoever you want." She sighed and tucked her shirt back in, seeing as it wasn't going to dry any faster.

"My dad—"

"Is currently rotting away in Azkaban. No offense." She pulled on her jumper. "What I meant is that your dad isn't here right now. And he's already married. Which means that he can't really have much of a say in what happens to you. It's your future, Draco. Your life." Cassandra held out her hand for her robe.

He glanced at her and slowly handed it back. "You make it sound so easy though."

"I've been having this conversation with you ever since you started noticing that girls exist."

"I mean the part about changing my name." He picked up her bag and handed it to her. "You make it sound so easy. Sort of like you've considered it before."

"Not exactly." She sighed as they walked out of the lavatory. "Dad never mentions anything about his family. Never. Thought he might've run away from them once. Got me thinking as to how hard it would be to actually run off."

"Good. Otherwise we couldn't be friends."

Cassandra nodded in agreement despite Draco calling them "friends". Something about that hurt her.

A flood of students rushed into the corridor. Cassandra sighed in frustration.

"I missed lunch and I have Herbology this afternoon," she moaned.

"Here." He took two apples out of his pocket and held them out toward her. "I accidentally took one too many. You can choose which one you want."

"Thanks." She took one from him and bit into it. "I owe you one, Malfoy."

"Think that just about makes us even. You really need to have your priorities set out. Not every valuable thing can be food-related you know."

"In my mind, it is." She smiled. "I'll see you around, Draco."

Cassandra frowned, reading through the text as she wrote out her Potions essay. She needed just a bit more in order to meet the requirement he had given. She leaned over, scanning through the pages once more to see if there was something she could use….

"Cass!"

She gasped, being topped over. Cassandra winced, staring up in confusion as she tried to pry Draco off of her.

"So the Slytherin belongs to you," Rivers pointed out as he stood in the doorway. "He's been shouting at the knocker."

"What are you even doing here?" She demanded, trying to escape him. "Draco! Get off of me!"

"Cass!" he shouted, a great big grin on his face. "Cassie! I just discovered the most brilliant thing ever!"

"That's great. Now let me up!" She grunted, putting all of her weight into shoving him off so that she could stand. She paused and turned to face him. "What did you just call me?"

"Do you want to know what it is?" he asked, looking up at her like an excited puppy. "Do you?"

"Sure?"

"I love you!" He threw his arms up over his head so hard that he fell backward onto the floor, giggling as he landed. "I love Cassandra Johnson!"

"Does he always smile like that?" Luna asked, joining her in the common room.

"No." She shook her head. "And he never calls me—"

"Cass!" He sat up. "Marry me! Say you will? Please? We can run off together! Just the two of us! Please? Will you do it? Please? Luna! You can be there at the wedding! We'll invite everyone!"

"Love potion?" Cassandra asked.

"Looks to be that way."

"Marry me, Cass?" Draco begged, grabbing her hand. "Make me happy and say you'll marry me? Please?"

"Sure," she muttered, an idea coming to her mind. "In fact, we can get married right now, if you'd like."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think Professor Slughorn can officiate weddings. Then we can be off before anyone notices."

"Then let's go!" He stood and ran out of the common room, forcing Cassandra to keep up with him as he sprinted down the stairs of the tower.

Draco dragged her down to Slughorn's office and loudly banged on the door as Cassandra bent over, gasping for breath.

"Mr. Malfoy?" he demanded. "I do hope you have a good reason for waking me up this late at night!"

"I'm getting married!" he announced, happily bouncing on his toes. "To the best, most perfect girl in the entire universe! So hurry up and marry us already!"

Slughorn glanced at Draco and then Cassandra in confusion.

"Love—po—tion." Cassandra gasped. "Help—anti—dote—please."

"Ah. Yes. Come in now."

Draco grinned and walked inside, happily bouncing all the way. Cassandra groaned and straightened, slowly making her way past Slughorn.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Just ran down here from the Ravenclaw dormitory," she explained, slowly getting her breath back.

"That explains it. Wait. Mr. Malfoy? How did you manage to run from the Ravenclaw dormitory all the way here without getting out of breath?"

"Too excited, I suppose." He grinned and wrapped his arms around Cassandra. "I'm about to marry the girl of my dreams!"

"Yes, well, how about something to drink? To celebrate the occasion first?" he suggested. "Though I'm fairly certain that someone with your talent could brew an antidote for this in no time," he added in a softer voice.

"I don't even think I could cast a spell right now, let alone brew a potion," she pointed out, trying to unsuccessfully disentangle herself from Draco.

"Fair enough." He went to his things and pulled out a few vials, pouring them into two glasses. "Here you are then. Bottoms up."

Draco smiled and took one while Cassandra took the other. "To my new fiancée! Or..wife...does it really matter? She'll still look great either way!"

He drank the contents. A moment passed before his smile slowly faded. He stumbled back, releasing Cassandra.

"What? Did I just…?"

"Is it over?" she asked.

"Seems that way." Slughorn sighed and shook his head. "You were under quite some love potion."

"Love potion?" he stammered, sitting down on one of the sofas. "How—how bad? Please tell me I didn't do anything bad! Merlin! I didn't snog anyone, did I? Please tell me it wasn't Daphne!"

"Actually…." Cassandra bit her lip as she looked at him. "You sort of...proposed?"

He groaned and his face fell into his hands. Slughorn chuckled and walked over toward several drinks.

"I think this calls for something to take the edge off, wouldn't you agree? Nothing like a good drink to mend a broken heart. Let's see…. I have some butterbeer here...some mead that I had meant to give to Dumbledore…. Oh well. He won't miss what he never had."

He poured out the drinks and handed one glass to Cassandra and another to Draco. "To love and all of its mysteries, eh?"

She nodded in agreement and went to drink it. Draco got to his feet and slapped the glass out of her hand, the contents spilling onto the floor.

"Don't drink that." He grabbed the other glass from Slughorn along with the bottle. "It's old. You shouldn't drink something that old. I'll—uh—go and dump this down the drain."

Cassandra frowned, watching as he left the room. She glanced over at Slughorn before following him out of the room. She ran after him, chasing him to one of the lavatories.

She skidded to a halt, walking into the lavatory. She paused, hearing something. Cassandra stood in the entryway, watching as Draco leaned over the sink, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed.

"Draco?"

He stopped and turned, seeing her there. "Thought you wouldn't want to see me. After what I said…."

"You were under a love potion. You didn't mean any of it."

"Pansy and Daphne set me up. Last thing I remember is that I was in the common room and she gave me a box of chocolates. They must've been spiked. I feel like a complete git, if it makes you feel any better. I would never say any of that."

"You wouldn't want to marry me?"

"No! It's not that! I just—I would never do that to you. I would never lead you on like that. You and I both know that it would never work out. I can't marry a half-blood."

"Because that's what your family says." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "But it's not what you think, is it?"

He sighed and turned his back toward her. "I have to do what my family wants. You wouldn't understand."

"I'm the bloody Chosen One! My entire life is planned out by some idiotic prophecy made before I was ever born! Of course I understand!"

"No. You don't."

"Yes I do."

"No. You don't!" He turned and she gasped, having just enough time to grab her wand and throw up a shield before his spell hit her.

"I'm—I'm sorry. I just—I wasn't thinking."

She fired a spell of her own at him. He moved, staring at her as it hit the mirror behind him.

"Cassandra?"

"You're right. You weren't thinking. You never bloody think, Draco!"

"You have no idea what I have to do."

She fired another spell and he moved as the spell hit the sink, knocking the faucet off.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, running for cover as she fired another spell at him. "I don't want to fight you!"

"Then stop thinking and fight like the pureblood you want to be!" she demanded.

"Expelliarmus!" Draco shouted.

She waved her wand, blocking the spell.

"I'm not going to fight you, Cassandra! Please. Just stop. I'm sorry, alright? Does that solve it?"

She fired off another spell. And another. They weren't harmful—she didn't want to hurt him. But she couldn't stop. All bloody year you've been going on about how you have to marry another pureblood! You keep surrounding yourself with Slytherins! You've changed. You're not the same. And now you go and take a love potion? You say all of those things and you think that you can just get away with it?

Another spell. She hesitated, searching the room for him. Cassandra stalked forward, opening the stalls to see where he was hiding. Her magic sparked, flickering the lights as she searched for him.

You said we'd still be friends. You said that we both knew you'd have to marry a pureblood. Only there's one problem with that.

She found him and he threw up a shield in time to block her spell. He ran, splashing through the water as she pointed her wand at him.

I can't let you marry a pureblood. I don't want you to.

The spell hit Draco as he turned to cast a shield. He let out a shout, falling back into the water. Cassandra frowned, slowly walking forward, hearing muffled cries coming from around the corner.

"Draco?"

Her eyes widened as she saw him. He was lying on his back, several gashes running across his chest as if he had been sliced with a sword.

Cassandra half-stepped and half-fell toward him. She shakingly held her wand in her hand, pointing it at the gashes, searching her mind for the healing charm.

What is it? What spell do I use? Think, Cassandra! Draco…. Draco….

The water rushed around them, the lights flickered overhead. Cassandra bit her lip, holding her hands up to the side of her head.

No. No. Stop it! Stop it!

Tiles flew out from the walls. The pipes broke free, spilling more water into the bathroom. She got to her feet, pointing her wand uselessly at the wall, trying to stem the flow of water. Draco was still on his back, not able to get up. She needed to keep the water away from him or else he might drown in it.

The water rose up and rushed into her, knocking her off her feet, slamming her against the wall before receding out into the corridor. She coughed and gasped, flailing to get back to him. She stumbled against the torrent, only to trip as another wave caught her, pulling her toward the ground.

"Draco!" she shouted, fighting against the water. "No. Stop. Please! You'll kill him!"

Severus sighed as he walked down the corridor. A late night had kept him at Dumbledore's office. The curse was getting worse. It had taken several hours to stop that bout, and he could only do so much for the headmaster.

He paused, his shoes splashing in water. His eyes narrowed, seeing the growing pool. Had that idiotic ghost girl flooded the lavatory again?

He followed the trail, thinking of some choice words for that girl.

"No! Stop it!"

He hurried, wand out as he skidded to a halt.

"Finite incantatem."

The water slowly subsided enough for him to wade through. Severus glanced around at still raging water. He found Cassandra crouched by a wall, hands holding her head. So that was how the lavatory had entered the state it was now in. But what was causing her magic to react like that?

He glanced over at where the water was swirling around something. He couldn't make out what it was, but whatever it was, it was important enough to protect. He glanced down at the water, seeing a tinge of red mixed in. Blood.

"Cassandra?" Severus shouted. "Cassandra! You need to stop this! I'm here now! Let me help you!"

She looked over at him and whimpered. "I can't stop it! I can't stop it."

He sighed and pointed his wand at her. The spell hit her, knocking her out. Severus walked over and knelt down, reassuring himself that she was only unconscious. He took her wand and stashed it in his robes before he went toward where the waters had been swirling around.

Severus came to a halt, staring down at the whimpering Draco. He swallowed, recognizing the spell that had been used. He knelt down and held his wand over the wounds.

"Vulnera sanentur," he murmured. "Vulnera sanentur. Vulnera sanentur."

They slowly healed. He was aware of the sound of gentle splashing as Cassandra stirred behind him. Severus sighed and helped Draco to his feet, grunting as he supported most of the blonde's weight.

His eyes met Cassandra's and she shrank under his gaze, staring down at the water as if she wished more than anything that she could simply vanish.

"My office," he instructed before helping Draco to the hospital wing.

It wasn't long before he got the blonde into a bed and instructed Madam Pomfrey to give him Essence of Dittany. Severus turned back toward his office, sighing as he heard quiet sobs coming from the lavatory.

He walked over to where she was kneeling. Severus sighed and grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet before dragging her off to his office. Once there, he half-tossed her into a chair and closed the door behind them.

"Where did you learn that spell?" he asked, doing his best to keep both the fear and the anger out of his voice. Her magic had already gotten out of control, and he knew all too well that it could just as easily get out of control again.

She wordlessly shrugged, slumped over in the chair as she stared at her hands. He took her wand out and set it on the desk where she could see.

"Where did you learn that spell?" he repeated.

"I don't know what spell I used," she murmured in a flat voice. "It just happened."

He leaned over her chair, putting both hands on the arms as he looked at her. "What 'just happened' was dark magic. So I will only ask you one more time. Where did you learn that spell?"

"I don't know what it was."

Severus sighed and glared at her. He entered her mind, only to find the image of their duel going wrong replaying over and over again. The image of Draco lying in the water, of her hopelessly wanting to help, yet not knowing how to. He looked away, breaking the spell as he straightened. He walked over to his desk, his back facing her.

"Twenty points will be taken from Ravenclaw," he decided. "And you will serve detention with me each week on Saturday morning. Indefinitely. Leave. Now."

His words hung in the air before there was a shuffling and the sound of the door opening.

"And Cassandra?" he called out. "That spell you claim to know nothing about? Never use it again. Or else I may have to discuss your expulsion with Filius."

There was a moment's hesitation before the door closed. Severus waited for the sound of her retreating footsteps before letting out a long sigh. He turned toward his desk and collapsed in his own chair, leaning his head on his hand.

Where had she learned that spell? She couldn't have just learned Sectumsempra from any place! She at least didn't seem to know what it could be capable of. Perhaps she had only heard of it in passing.

He groaned as he rubbed his eyes. It had been a long time since he had last touched that spell. A very long time indeed….

(warning)

There was a knock on the door. Severus quickly walked over to answer it, seeing Elaine standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"Came to give you this." She handed him an envelope. "Lily said you weren't getting yours for some reason."

"What is it?"

"Announcement." Elaine shrugged. "Turns out she and James got engaged."

"That'll be nice. For her, I mean. I hope so, at least."

"What are you doing standing at the door, for, boy?" his father shouted from the other room. "You're letting in all the cold air!"

"I should go," he muttered in excuse. "Thanks."

Severus turned to leave, only for his father to shove him aside and open the door, glaring at Elaine.

"Who are you?" he spat. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"I just came to give Sev a letter," she explained.

"A letter?" his father demanded, roughly grabbing the envelope from him. "Who would ever want to write to you?"

"It's from one of my friends," he argued, following his father into the other room.

"Friends? Who would ever want to be friends with a freak like you?"

"Severus is not a freak!" Elaine shouted, storming into the flat, ignoring his warning signs to not get involved. "How dare you say something like that to him?"

"You must be one of his freakish friends then, eh?" His father pushed past him and walked over to Elaine. "Able to do magic and suddenly you lot think you're better than me? Hm? Is that it?"

"I just think that you shouldn't be saying things like that to your son," she corrected. "You're his father and you shouldn't—"

He sucked in a breath as his father slapped her across the face the way he had seen him do to his mother so many times before. Though unlike his mother. Elaine stood her ground, not falling to the floor whimpering in protest. Instead, she held a hand up to her face where the skin was turning pink and looked at her fingers to see if there was any blood.

"Come on, girlie," he taunted. "Care to hide behind your magic the way you do with all of my kind? Or are you another pathetic one just like him?" He pointed a finger at where Severus stood.

He looked over at Elaine, seeing the wavering glare in her expression. She was still underage. She couldn't use magic outside of her home, and they both knew it. Still, her lip curled into a smirk.

"I'm not pathetic," she bit back. "Just trying to decide which curse to use on you."

"Go on then. Give it your best shot." He leaned in close to her. "Or do you not have the guts to do it? Been too busy hiding behind a wand all your life? Too busy hiding behind that pretty little face of yours?" His father reached up and Elaine jerked back.

"Maybe I won't curse you," she attempted, trying to put more threat into the words than she actually had. "Maybe I'll just take care of you the way muggle way."

Severus opened his mouth to warn her only for it to be too late. One moment, she was standing there, and the next, his father had her pinned against the floor, one arm twisted behind her back.

"Come on, girlie!" his father shouted. "Come on, witch! Curse me, hex me, do whatever your kind does!" He put more pressure on the arm, making Elaine cry out in pain. "Come on!"

He grabbed his wand and pointed it at them. "Sectumsempra!"

His father stumbled back in pain, clutching his side to stem the flow of blood. Severus rushed over to Elaine and dragged her by the arm, both of them running out of the flat.

That had been the very last time he had stepped into that flat; the very last time he had seen his father; the very last time he had ever touched that same spell.

If it hadn't been for Elaine and her father, he would've had nowhere else to go. After that day, her father had become his father. She had become his family. And Tobias Snape had hurt her just because she could do magic.

"I'm alright, Sev," she explained as she helped him unpack. "Really."

"I'm sorry he did that to you," he muttered in apology. "I shouldn't have let him do that. Should've seen it coming, should've warned you…."

"That's why you never wanted to go back home after you mom died?" she guessed. "I'm so sorry, Sev. If I had known sooner, I would've offered for you to come live with us right after you got that letter. I mean, my dad likes you enough, and we have the extra room—"

He cut her off by kissing her. "He was my dad. I grew up with it. You didn't."

"It doesn't make it right, Sev."

.

A/N: Once again, I'm sorry, but it had to be done.

PS: in case you've decided to scroll...

Snape's dad taking out some anger issues on Elaine was the last time that Snape had actually used Sectumsempra, which also resulted in Tobias Snape's death. Then, Elaine and her father took Snape in.