It was a miserable day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The wide halls were dimmed because of the lack of sunlight due to the late October weather and early rainstorms. Two students ran frantically through a painting of a man with a long black cloak and a welsh-grin plastered on his face. He called out to the two, " Run you twits! Run! "

The girls who ran were Holly Snape and Shade Stalker. Holly was 14 years old and about 5'4'' with shoulder length deep chesnut hair with several strands falling around her elven ears and stopping at her chest.She had pale skin, soft as silk, and yellow snake eyes always open to peer around corners or look at her surroundings. Shade on the otherhand was 5'5'' and shared Holly's age. She had bright silver eyes,pale skin like the moon, and black hair, which was slowly turning white as they ran down the halls. They were both in Slytherin colors, serpent green on midnight black.

" Why didn't you tell me it was nearly ten?! " Holly barked, acting a little like Severus Snape, head of Slytherin, potions teacher, and Holly's Father.

" Well excuse me, Severus! I happened to be sleeping as well!! " Shade had barked back.

Holly paused and stood quietly, head lowered. Shade skid to a stop a few feet ahead. Holly spoke quietly in a low voice. " Never,__call me,__by the name___of my father. Ever."

" Well your acting like him!! "

" Well you know I sleep late when it rains!! "

" Then how do you make it for your early Quidditch practices?! "

" Flint kicks the bed, or throws me onto the floor, blanketless. "

" The bastard. " Shade ended, but probably wasn't heard for Holly had sped off as fast as a Firebolt.

" Late again? " Severus's voice boomed as they had sprinted in and sat down. Severus was a tall man who always had a grudge with any student who was late. He had shoulder length black hair that seemed greasy, but because of several night sweats he had, sweat didn't help. Piercing black eyes stared at each student, watching Holly pull her cauldron from under her desk with Shade mimicing, he spoke again, still sounding irritable. " As I was saying,.. today we'll be learning to brew up the Exactous Potion, " the class stared having no idea what he was talking about, he continued, " The select few of you don't need it, but the Exactous Potion will help you get to the exact place at the exact time. " Those dull black eyes flickered and look towards Holly and Shade. They both shivered at the look they were given while Draco and his chubby buddies, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

Holly took her usual seat next to Jeremy, a Ravenclaw boy who was the same age as Holly. He was one inch taller than her with skin that was paler than her's. Black hair that looked a little feathered near the ends was at regular length for a boy. Two sharp white fangs were there on his pale lips, that wouldn't seem to stay in his mouth and his hazel eyes were kept open for the same reason as Holly.

" I hate how he does this to us. " She ducked under her desk to grab some of the main items they used in their potions that were creepily either floating around in jars or snarling at her hand, not wanting to be sliced up and stuck in a bowl of steaming hot liquid. She pulled up and impaled the struggling weed onto her desk with a cutting knife. He laughed slightly.

" Well, we're working on the Shrinking potion he was discussing yesterday. I just hope he doesn't yell at Neville today, I have a headache " Jeremy said while chopping up Holly's weed while she prepared the other ingrediants.

" He always seems to have a problem with me when I'm with Shade. She's not that much of a problem. I know her swearing can be slight disadvantedge to our friendship but she's really a nice person. "

".. Probably in a bad mood to see you slipping up when it comes to your friends....? I don't know. "

Holly had sighed and she finished added the first few items. She took the cauldron by it's handle and held it outward keeping her arm steady. She was holding it properly because if it was let hitting your legs while you walked, it would either damage the very old cauldrons or something from inside may fall out, causing you to have an inaccurate amount of either wolfsbane or monkshood. Not to mention some of the acids that have to be added that could very well eat away at your robes or skin. She made her way to the sink at the far end corner of the classroom, which had been used as a dungeon from the looks of it. It was dark with chains and torn fragments of cloth hanging from the rafters that were underneathe a cobblestone ceiling. There was very little light and a cold, dry fireplace near a door which lead to Snape's office. She filled the cauldron up with a guesstamate amount of warm water. Walking back to her desk, Malfoy had let out a scream of pure, fake, terror, causing Holly to drop the cauldron and having everything pour out all over the floor and the acids that had been added, burned a hole into the wooden floor, giving one who stood over it, a good look at the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The students had looked upward and saw Holly, they waved until the hole had been covered with a long wooden plank.

" Holly___please sit. " Snape said as calmly as possible.

" Prof. Sn...I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean to,.. really.." Holly tried to defend herself as much as possible, noticing from the corner of her eye, Draco imitating her.

" It's alright. I know it wasn't your fault. Be careful when you clean this up. I'll deal with Malfoy.." his eyes shot directly over to him with a look that even a werewolf would back down from him, " ...after class. "

And after that, Holly gave a look of great relief and smiled. He smiled back and resumed his glare towards Malfoy, then walked to his desk. Holly picked up her wand, " Clensendio. " The mess cleaned up and the pieces of the cauldron seperated themselves from the large wood pieces that had fallen from the rafters above. " Aculous Reparo. " She whispered again, having the cauldron repair itself and resume it's natural shape. She set it down incase it decided to break again and grabbed another one from a nearby table. Filling it with the ingrediants she had done before. Refilling it with the water and keeping her eye on Draco who looked as if he were about to die from laughter. He was going to die from something. Though the cauldron had been repaired, he would still have to pay for a new one and also repair the floor. Did I mention indangering a student? The acids that were dropped that had burned a hole through the wooden floor, imagine what damage it could of caused to Holly. Snape was very very upset that his daughter could of been hurt naturally, so the punishment for Malfoy's stupidity was going to be more than harsh.

The class ended. Gryfinndor lost a few points for Neville spilling some potion onto the floor and letting it splash against his chair, the leg had shrunk and he fell over onto the floor. His hand slapped into the potion on the floor and his hand had suddenly shrunk. Displeased with the events that had happened, Snape, really needed a walk through the woods.

Potions was canceled for the rest of the day. Malfoy had to serve a weeks detention of helping Hagrid, the ogre at the edge of the forbidden forest who took care of mystical creatures. Also, he had to help out Filch, the caretaker and sort of janitor of the school, cleaning up trophies and helping clean up mud and stuff from the students that had tracked it all through the halls. Holly had walked outside with her broom, the Nimbus 2001 at her side. It was practice time for the Slytherin team. Practice was fairly similar to the game itself, only it was a one team type thing. Balls that were color coded shot from the castle at fast speed. They were representing the real balls that were used during Quidditch. Holly had to pay attention to one ball, and one ball only. The gulf ball, which was the substitue for the Golden Snitch. A small ball about the size of a golf ball with golden wings that fluttered rapidly. These faux balls were bewitched to fly around and act like the real thing. A bludger was blue, the quaffel was orange, and the snitch, was white. The ball used for the bludger wasn't as heavy as the actual thing, but still it hurt if you were hit, and would leave one hell of a bruise.

" C'mon Holly!! Keep your eyes on the ball!! That's the second snitch you've let pass you!! " Yelled Marcus Flint. Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.He was an ugly boy of sorts. Flint had the resemblence of a troll with screwed up teeth and black hair. He was thin, pale, and ugly, and a fourth year at Hogwarts. Holly was a first who made it onto the Slytherin team by her father. All his idea, nonetheless.

" Excuse me, you trollish sack of potatoes!! I was keeping my eye on the four BLUDGERS that passed and nearly hit me! Why don't you yell at the beater you TWIT! And another thing THOSE WERE PIECES OF PAPER! Plus you git, this weather is kind of bad to be practicing in!! " Holly had yelled back, balancing herself on her Nimbus 2001 while moving her hands around in a fit. She suddenly found herself dangling off her broom by her legs. Flint had come over and pushed her off but little did he know, her legs were locked on the broom. She grabbed the end of his broom and pulled it out from under him. He fell and she flew down and grabbed him. Giving him back his broom, he mounted and wiped the sweat off his brow. " You think you were getting away THAT easily? " She growled and gave him a furious punch in nose, causing it to bleed immediatly.

" Just because your a girl, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you!! " Flint growled while clutching her robes and pulling her off her broom, falling down as well. They spiraled down and Flint hit the ground back first, Holly stradeling ontop of him. She had a content grin on her face. He glared at her, but before he could do anything, she went into a scratching rage and scratched him several times along the face and neck. He rolled her onto her back and pulled her arms downward and rested his knees on her hands, only getting one punch in for she had shouted a spell she could recite and use without her wand. He flew off backwards and onto the ground and she pounced back onto him and threw more punches until Madam Hootch came by and pulled her off. Holly had gotten mud splashes all over her robes and was bleeding from her lip, Flint on the other hand looked like he got attacked by a cat and lost.

" Holly Snape!! What on earth do you think you were doing?! " Madam Hootch had yelled after pulling Holly inside near the Great Hall.

" He started yelling at me for something that wasn't my fault. "

" Well that doesn't mean you have to punch him in the face!! "

" He knocked me off my broom first. " She growled deeply in her throat.

" Well punching him isn't the way to go about it!! "

" It was 50ft up in the air!! "

" You stayed on, didn't you? "

" Well....yeah.. BUT HE DIDN'T HAVE TO KNOCK ME OFF YOU KNOW!! "

" Holly, calm down. Go to your dormitory and change, I don't want you guys to rip each other apart in there. "

" Fine. " Holly stormed off to her tower with blood dripping from her lip and mud dropping in cakes on the floor.

" Stupid children. " Filch muttered watching the mud fall.

" You fought Flint? " Jeremy had ran up to Holly, sucking on a blood lollypop.

" Yeah. " She said after wiping the blood from her lips.

" Fantastic! Did you rearrange his face?"

" The best my nails and fists could do. " Wiping more blood from her lips.

They approached Slytherin's tower and she had growled at the painting of Salazar, who started laughing at her for the blood. " Lovely new addition to your face. "

"Shut up. Pronucus Ticius."

The painting swung open and Jeremy and her stepped into the common room. The common room was green, silver, and black. It was large and bright. Snape's idea to have lights in there so it's easier for them to read his handwriting which was hard to read in a dark area. The walls had snake draperies and the carpet was black and green blended in a swirling pattern along the floor from the door to the stairway. Several couches were grouped by the fireplace with green fire burning.

".. It's...very bright here. "

" You get used to it after a while. "

They took their seats infront of the fire and took in the scent of the fire that smelled similar to sage, but better. Holly grabbed a box of every flavor beans and helped herself to them. " Ugh! Yuck! Vomit flavored!!! " She spit out the bean and made a face of pure disgust. He laughed at her slightly and smiled. " I have some drinks here. You want one? I have water, blood, butterbeer. "

" Uhh.. I'm fin...wait...You have blood? " He said with a confused look on his face.

" Yup!! " She picked up a bottle of blood from the side of the couch and threw it over to him. He caught it, smiled, then pulled the cap off and downed it in seconds. She blinked and laughed some, then took some water and a rat for herself. Holly, being part snake, she ate like one. Her favorite treat was mice, but she would often eat rats, frogs, and birds. They had hours of conversation and laughs together. The curfew had passed hours ago, Holly was getting tired, Jeremy, being a vampire himself, could stay up all night, but he respected Holly's human ways, bid her goodnight and set off out of the painting and to his Ravenclaw tower. Holly climbed up the steps to be greated by a very unpleasent sight.

" Late to bed again, eh, Holly? " It was Malfoy. Her least favorite person at Hogwarts. Malfoy had sleek blonde hair that was always greased and pushed backwards from his forehead. He had blue eyes which were dancing madly as he grinned at Holly, obviously having something planned for him to tease her on. Standing 5'2'', he was much shorter than her, which gave Holly an advantedge to call him short stuff, or shorty one-forty, though nothing was great enough to compete against his ignorance. " I s'pose you and your boyfriend had fun, eh, Holly? "

" Draco. First off, your not Canadian, stop saying 'eh'." She said, grinning slightly, baring her fangs being she had eatten and that's when those snake fangs would appear." And, yes I am late for bed, no I don't care, and you shouldn't be out of your dorm in the first place, twit. " She brushed past him quickly, kicking him in the leg from behind, going into the girl's dorm and shutting the door.

The next day, practice was canceled due to hail storms, outside classes were held inside, and it was double potions day. Or in any Slytherin's case, Happy Hour. " Well Jeremy, I'll see you in Transfiguration. "

" Bye. Holly. " He walked off as Holly and the other Gryffindor and Slytherin students finished walking in. She took her seat, pulled out her books, quill, ink, parchement, cauldron, ingrediants, and a bottle of water. The students had to sit in uncomfortable areas. Gryffindor student, Slytherin student. Holly was stuck next to Neville, a clumsy, plump, and pink boy, who always had gotten in trouble, whether it was mistake or sheer stupidity. He had always kept asking Holly for hints, or amounts of different ingrediants, though regretted it with a large bruise on his leg from her kicking him constantly, not wanting to cheat, and help out a student of the opposite tower.Shade sat behind Holly and often threw notes over her shoulder, commenting about people she sat with, or asking for ingrediants or hints. Fortunatly, Snape didn't notice the notes flying back and forth between Holly and Shade,otherwise,...they'd both be dead.

" Holly. What was so funny last night? " Shade asked, preparing another note before class began.

" Nothing. Jeremy and I were having a few laughs is all. " Holly answered, slightly irritated that whatever her and Jeremy did, the whole world had to know. She thought of telling a bogus lie, but then she thought of the grapevine and how it would come back to her in maybe a most disgusting way.

" Alright alright. Silence your mouths." Snape walked in, robes flowing, giving some students who sat in the isle seats a brief fanning. He made his way to the blackboard, which unlike some places, was actually black. He wrote today's potion on the board, explained that they would be testing them, and how long they had to make it correctly. He sat down, pulled out a book and read.

" Oh sure. We do all the work and he sits on his arse all day. " It was Ron Weasely, a Gryffindor who commented, more to himself but loud enough for Harry who sat infront of him, and Hermione, who sat a two seats away from him to hear. Holly because of her sensitive elf ears, heard this, took a heavy weed and chucked it at the red head. " Ow!! " she sniggered as well as Shade and Draco at Ron's cry of pain.

A note was passed over to Holly, she picked it up, opened it and read silently to herself: Holly, I know your hiding something from me about Jeremy and you. Tell me in this note, and I promise after I read it, I'll throw it out and never talk about it again. Please tell me? I'm your best friend slash step cousin. You have to tel--

" Holly... " It was Snape.

She stirred for a moment and quickly threw the note under the desk. " Yes, Professor? "

" Holly....is there something you would like to share with the class? Something like a note...maybe? " He knew that she hid the note, he wasn't stupid.

" Uhm.. no.. Professor Snape...nothing at all.. " She said, lying between her teeth while fidgetting around for her some ingrediants trying not to look like an idiot, which unfortunatly, she looked like one as it is.

" Now Holly,.. you wouldn't lie to a teacher,...would you? "

She was stuck, of course she wouldn't lie to a teacher, espically if that teacher was her father." .. No sir.. .I'm sorry... sir.. won't happen again.. "

" Stay after class to make up this potion. I'd also like to have a talk with you. " He strode off and she took in a sigh, turning around to growl at Shade, moving back around to pick up the note, put it away and continue mixing.