Snape spent the majority of his day pouring over his spell books. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything helpful, and if his books didn't have the spell, it didn't exist.

Apparently, Snape would have to be creative with his solution to the problem. The problem being the girl who was calling herself Desiree Foster. Those red eyes that she flashed still haunted him. He feared that they would until the day he died.

From the moment that she had walked into his class earlier, he had sensed something new inside of her. Some kind of parasite, one that was taking control, as demonstrated by her change in moods and physical appearance. Well, not quite in her physical appearance. She hid the changes, but had given him a glimpse of what she was now capable.

The wound on his hand still throbbed. He hadn't been to the hospital wing yet, and he wasn't quite sure he wanted to go. Every second needed to be dedicated to eradicating that little pest, Desiree.



Desiree could feel the snake moving up her arm again. Suddenly, it wasn't as unnerving as it had been. It almost had a soothing affect on her.

Walking towards the girls' bathroom, she completely ignored a group of Gryfindors calling after her. She didn't even blink when one of them touched her on the shoulder; she just kept on her way.

Entering the restroom, she sat down on a toilet and closed the door to the stall. Des rolled up the sleeve of her robe and couldn't find the snake anymore. To see the serpent, she actually had to take off her robe and look inside her shirt.

The green figure had reached her shoulder and was turning towards the center of her chest. Now the snake's destination was clear, it was moving to her heart.

Gazing down into its blood red eyes, she felt herself calming even more. The prospect of that snake reaching her heart didn't worry her in the slightest. She felt blissfully numb, felt protected. There was nothing left for her to worry about, not with that snake watching over her.

Desiree's feet then took her to the Gryfindor tower, although she couldn't quite remember arriving there or sitting down on her bed. She stared off into space; knowing that she just needed to stay where she was until her escort arrived.

Des would wait till she was called outside. Then she would be taken, and she wasn't worried about it. The serpent wouldn't let her worry about being abducted, for that was exactly what the snake wanted.



"Desiree, answer me," Hermione pleaded, shaking her new friend later that night. Hermione had found Des sitting on her bed, under a spell.

"Harry! Ron! Get up here quick!" Hermione called to the two boys waiting down in the common room. In an instant, they were at her side, shocked as she had been to see Des in her current state.

Ron quietly asked, "What's wrong with her?"

"I think she's in some kind of a trance," Hermione answered, "She won't respond to anything."

"Desiree, can you hear us?" Harry asked, leaning in closer to Des, "Please answer us. We're worried about you. Everyone's heard about what you said to William. It doesn't sound like you. We know something is wrong, but we can't help you unless you come back. Do you want to spend the rest of your life like this? Desiree!" Harry grasped her shoulders and shook her, continually calling her name.

"Harry, stop, you're making me dizzy," Desiree whispered.

Harry's arms immediately wrapped around her for a hug. "Desiree, what's happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Des looked genuinely confused.

Hermione responded, "You were in a trance of some sort. Harry just roused you from it. How did it happen?"

Des cradled her head in her hands, "I don't know. The past few days have been a blur. I know that something is happening to me, but I have no idea what. Or how to stop it. I'm scared, help me please."

"We need to tell Dumbledore," Harry suggested.

"No, he'll be disappointed in me, I can't tell him."

Ron couldn't believe his ears, "Which is worse? His disappointment, or a lifetime of whatever this is?"

"It's a tough call, but since you put it that way, I suppose we should tell him. But tell him what?" Des answered.

"What's happened to that snake on your wrist?" Hermione asked.

Desiree hesitated for a minute before removing her glove to show her wrist.

"Where did it go?" Ron asked.

"Good question, it's moved up my arm and is currently at my shoulder," Des informed the others.

"I'd say that's something we might want to tell Dumbledore," Harry commented, "Has anything else strange happened? I mean, we all know that you've been having some mood swings, but anything more?"

Desiree tried to think, but couldn't remember a thing. Slowly, she shook her head.

"We still have plenty to tell Dumbledore. Come on, let's go," Hermione said as she pulled Desiree off the bed.

The four of them left the Gryfindor tower and headed towards Dumbledore's office. Down one corridor, they heard footsteps behind them. Turning around, they couldn't see anything, so they kept moving along.

More footsteps. This time closer. Harry stopped to look around, but still couldn't find anyone. Sighing, he rejoined the others.

A soft chant behind them and a white blast filled the air around them; a spell. Each waited for the spell to reach them but it never did.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to see Desiree staring at a ball of white light a few feet in front of her. Some distance away stood Snape, jaw dropped at the sight. Des had halted the spell that was designed to destroy her. Snape had thought her capable of many things, but certainly not that.

Raising her right hand, the bright light zoomed back to its creator, knocking Snape down to the ground.

"Desiree, what are you doing?" Hermione shouted, running with Harry and Ron to stand in front of Desiree. The sight that greeted them immobilized all three. Dark red eyes opened wide, with black slits that strangely resembled that of a snake.

While seeming not to move, Des turned around and continued down the hallway. Harry and Ron recovered enough to run after Desiree. Harry jumped on her back, trying to tackle her, while Ron dove right into Des' side.

Neither succeeded in taking her down. One quick turn to focus on each, and they were thrown against the wall. Hermione checked on each of her friends lying on the ground before going after Desiree. The former tracked Des through the hallways all the way to the great hall, and out the doors.

Outside, beneath the willow beside the lake, a man stood, wreathed in shadow. Hermione watched as Desiree slowly walked down to the stranger.

"Desiree, come back!" Hermione shouted after her friend.

Des didn't seem to notice. Joining the man by the lake, she turned to Hermione and raised her hand. Within in a instant, Hermione was thrown back several feet.

The pain ripped through her body, so much that she couldn't even consider getting up for several minutes. By that time, the stranger and Desiree were gone.

Hermione ran back up to the castle to find Harry and Ron in the great hall, looking for her.

"What happened? Where's Desiree?" Harry asked, panicky.

She answered, "Someone was waiting out by the lake for her. She went with him, but not before she used her newfound powers on me. My body still feels on fire."

"Same here," Ron mumbled while rubbing his lower back.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione quickly asked.

"The same thing we were going to do," Harry stated, "We've got to tell Dumbledore."

"What about Professor Snape?" the Gryfindor asked.

Ron answered, "He's fine, unfortunately."

While all three were running back up the stairs to the Headmaster's office, Harry thought aloud, "Snape must have known that something was wrong with her. He was trying to kill her. That's what made her change."

"What I don't understand is what happened to her eyes?" Ron asked.

"Didn't you notice that her eyes looked like a snake's eyes?" Hermione asked, "It's that snake mark. All of this started back when she was attacked and she received that mark. I'll bet that her attacker was the one waiting for her under the tree."

Ron, almost out of breath, had another question, "But why would she go with her attacker?"

"I don't think she had much of a choice," Harry reasoned as he stopped right before the entrance to Dumbledore's office, "I think that snake mark is controlling her now."

"How do we get in?" Hermione wondered.

Professor Dumbledore asked from behind them, "And why would you need to get in?"

"Professor, Desiree was taken, sort of," Ron explained.

The Headmaster seemed ready to fly down the stairs after the girl, "Do you know where she is now?"

Hermione told Dumbledore about the man outside, and that she had no idea where they had gone. She also informed the Headmaster of the migrating snake that had seemingly assumed control of Desiree.

"You go back to your dormitories now. The other professors and I will take care of this, and I'll see that Snape is taken to the hospital wing," Dumbledore ordered, not wasting a second to see that his command was followed. The three Gryfindors watched his robes bellow as he quickly left, eventually disappearing down a corridor.

Hermione chewed her lower lip, "He told us to go back to our dormitories."

"Yes he did," Harry agreed, "but Desiree needs our help. I'm going after her. The two of you don't have to come if you don't want to."

Ron's eyes widened, "Are you crazy? You'd have to put a binding spell on us to keep us here!"



Wormtail continued to lead Desiree through the house towards the top floor where she was awaited. She didn't look alive. If he hadn't known that the extremely relaxed oblivious state was part of the spell she was under, he would have been very worried about her.

Even now, he was nervous. He was always nervous when he faced Voldemort, but with Desiree in tow, the situation would be that much more delicate.

Climbing the last of the stairs, Wormtail presented Desiree to his master. Over in the corner, two bound bodies called to the girl as she entered the room.

"Desiree, can you hear me? It's Mary. You've got to get out of here!" Mrs. Foster shouted.

John joined, "Desiree, run away. Fight the spell; I know you're strong enough. You can break away. Try!"

Desiree heard the words, but at first didn't care. A voice in her head told her that they were talking nonsense. However, another voice was pleading with her to listen to them. Urging her to trust the people she had considered her family for years.

Closing her eyes, Des tried to obey the voice that told her to fight. Her breathing became labored as she hunched over in pain. Her eyes squinted tighter just before she exhaled and collapsed to the floor.

A few moments later her eyes opened, but she couldn't see anything through the dark hair that had fallen into her face. Her weak hand reached up to push her hair behind her ear.

Sitting up, her head began to spin. Her right hand had to hold her head for a moment while she regained her bearings. Once the room stopped whirling around her, she looked up to see where she was.

She didn't recognize the room, but she recognized all four people in it. The Fosters, Wormtail, and Voldemort.

Tears filled her eyes.

"Oh, come now. Do stop crying, it is not becoming," the cold, snake-like voice of Voldemort spat out, "I had higher expectations of you."

Desiree glanced back over to the Fosters, "Why have you taken them?"

"Because they took you."

"You're doing this for me?" she asked skeptically.

He didn't answer, so she continued, "You had me attacked and introduced that horrible serpent into my flesh, knowing that it would take over me?"

"I had to make sure that you would come willingly. I certainly didn't want a scene. I'm impressed how you defeated Wormtail's spell. You are a credit to your family."

"Yes," she agreed, "the Fosters raised me very well."

She had said the wrong thing. Anger flared within him, and for a moment she was scared that he would unleash it on her. Instead, he took out his fury on the Fosters.

Desiree cried out as she watched Mary and John convulse on the floor, screaming in pain. "Stop! Let them go and I swear I'll do whatever you want!" Des shouted over the screams.

Her words stayed Voldemort's wand. "You would do that to save their lives?"

"Yes. I swear to you that I'll obey everything you say, just please, release them," Des cried.

"Desiree, don't do it!" John ordered.

The young Gryfindor ignored John, "Let them go, please." Des wiped away her tears, making herself be strong and stand up to the Dark Lord.

Considering her proposition for a moment, "Wormtail, take them downstairs."

"Are you releasing them?" Desiree asked.

"As a Gryfindor, once you make a promise, you are bound to it. No matter what happens. You've made your pledge. Now you're mine."

Desiree's head fell, whispering, "I know. I've always been yours."