Please note, chapter 4 was re-uploaded. Go reread it before continuing with this chapter. Thank you.
It was a bit weird that Snape could be so apparently terrible in class and yet so nice in private. It was a mystery she was going to solve later. For now, she was going to catch up on her sketching. There were some interesting faces in the class that begged to be drawn.
She looked at the different faces, trying to choose one in particular to sketch. She narrowed in on the boy sitting next t Hermione. He looked so nervous and frightened of her uncle. 'Interesting…' she thought as she put the basic outline of his body on the paper. She was so lost in her drawing that only after her uncle spoke did she notice a cauldron was now laying on the ground, a brownish goop flowing out of it. Leia set aside her sketchbook and stood up to see things better. Her uncle towered above the boy she had been sketching. The boy was literally shaking as her uncle glared at him. Leia couldn't tell what he was saying, but it was harsh enough to cause Hermione to gasp in indignation. Before Leia knew what was happening, all but Hermione and the boy had been dismissed from class and the two left behind were scrubbing at the gook on the floor. Her uncle swiftly walked out the door in the direction of his chambers to change out of the robes that were now an interesting tie-dye where the splattering potion had hit him.
"Let me help please," Leia said coming towards them. She accidentally slipped on an unseen patch of potion and wound up face first in the stuff. Quickly the boy, Neville his name was she found out later, helped her up and started brewing a potion. Hermione quickly finished scrubbing and watched in horror as Leia's face turned colors and seemingly started to melt. It didn't go anywhere; it just assumed a shiny glossy texture that one might find with melted chocolate. All the while Neville was brewing and whispering that Leia would be alright. Leia was still in shock but she trusted the young man to stop the effects of the junk. Finally the potion jellified and Neville scooped some up with his hand and carefully rubbed a bit onto her cheek. He seemed nervous but smiled a little as it started to counter-effect the brown goop. Just then Severus walked back in.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY NIECE?" he yelled running over to them. Hermione held him back and explained what had happened to allow Neville enough time to complete the applying of the potion. When her face was back to normal again, Leia hugged Neville.
"Thank you so much. Guess I am a bit clumsy, eh?" she laughed. "Sorry, Uncle Severus, I wanted to help but I slipped. My face started to melt. I'll go to my room now." She hopped off the desk, gave Neville one more hug and waved to Hermione before walking out the door. Severus caught up with her as she entered the main door to their rooms.
"Leia, wait." Severus said. "Why are you going to your room?"
"Well, for punishment of course. Whenever I was clumsy, Dad made me go to my room and practice not running into things. I also went without dinner. You won't do that will you?" she looked at him and continued rambling. "Because, I can try really hard not to be clumsy but I'd like to eat, please." Severus growled and punched a wall. Leia grimace and ran to the other side of the wall. She cowered waiting for him to strike her. 'All good things do come to an end,' she thought bitterly. Severus looked across the room and saw her huddling against the wall. Instantly his demeanor changed and he slowly walked over to her.
"Leia…Honey, I'm not going to hit you, starve you, or bloody make you walk around your room. You aren't clumsy. I want to kill your father for doing that to you." Severus said reaching for her hand. "Will you please join me for my next class?" Leia slowly nodded and grabbed his hand. Maybe the good wouldn't end today after all.
A/N: I know, I know. Took me long enough, didn't it? Well, here it is a new chapter. I still don't know where I am going with this. Here I was all happy because three of my stories actually have a plot and then I come to update this one. Sad. Oh dear, and I'm almost tempted to add a little Neville romance on the side. I'm not going to let it override the main conflict about family and trust and idiot fathers. Oh…dear…I ramble don't I? Happy New Year! Enjoy the chapter.
1-13-03- well, I keep showing two copies of chapter four and I can't make it go away. So I'm gonna try to delete the second one then add this again….*runs off to try* please tell me if it works by…reviewing… *snort* was that clever or what?!