Hello. Again, I find myself at the start of a chapter. This story is just flying by. I really want to get started on another I have planned. But hopefully, this one won't irritate me too much. The next few chapters have already been written, but I'm allowing Fan Fiction a while to get accustomed to the recent influx of chapters. There should be more biting. Hooray!

"Are you locked up in a world,

That's been planned out for you?

Are you feeling like a social tool without a use?"

'She'

Green Day

Entering the Common Room, Daniel was surprised to find it was still quite busy. It was about half twelve at night, and people kept wishing her luck and giving advice for the task. Even if they didn't know what it was. Settling comfortably in a chintz chair, Daniel was disturbed again. It was Draco. He looked scared at talking to her. She felt a twinge of guilt when he shuddered involuntarily whenever they were within a foot of each other.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he looked really worried. "Please?"

Getting up, Daniel followed him to the Shower Rooms. As always, they were deserted. The horrible smell of a room just after a shower made her scowl. Draco swallowed, scared that he had annoyed her. Daniel looked at him expectantly. It took a while for him to gather the words. He opened his mouth several times, but all he did was make a strangled choking noise. "We were, friends, before the Yule Ball, weren't we?" Draco Malfoy looked sad. Daniel could hear his heart flutter beneath his robes.

"Yes." Draco looked disappointed, he had maybe expected an enthusiastic 'of course we were'.

"And, I feel really…stupid, I suppose, for letting myself ruin it." He glanced up at her. "And I've thought about it and I know that you're entitled to a life outside Hogwarts, and that you can see other people, but I just want to apologize for wrecking everything. I shouldn't have been so ignorant." He finished quickly. "I'm sorry."

Daniel stared at him. She had never, ever, heard a Malfoy apologize.

"Oh." Draco took this as an acceptance.

"So," he extended a thin hand, "Friends?" Raising an eyebrow, Daniel shook his hand, remembering to keep her grip on it minimal. Draco smiled joyously and practically bounced out of the room. Trudging up to bed, Daniel was greeted with Pansy looking like a homicidal heifer.

Striding forwards, Pansy slapped her with the back of her shovel-like hand.

"You bitch!" she screeched. "How could you do that to Draco?"

A flash of panic skittered through Daniel's head. How could she know?

"Leaving him at the Yule Ball! You insensitive bitch! He just wanted to get to know you!" Pansy was waving her hands around so much she was almost a blur.

"What do you care? Now he'll pay more attention to you." Daniel stated slowly, watching her brain whirr into working.

"Still, don't ever upset him again!' Pansy said warningly.

…..God, how long had she been running? Her legs felt like they didn't belong to her. He was behind her, shouting for her to give in, to give up. Scrambling through brambles and bushes, avoiding branches and rabbit holes, Daniel Snape sprinted deeper and deeper into the darkening forest. She felt his hands graze the back of her neck, and she shrieked and pushed herself onwards with strength she never knew she had.

"You cannot escape me, Daniel!"

He had been chasing her for what seemed like days. She had run into the forest in the hope he would run into a stick. Which would conveniently pierce his heart and leave her safe.

Jumping over a low bush, she realized with horror that a stream was sunk into the ground some 15 feet beneath her. How could she have jumped off a small mountain without realizing? Plunging into the icy water, elation filled her wiry frame. She had got rid of him, he was nowhere to be seen. Fighting her way to the bank, she crawled out onto the grass. Wearing only a thin set of robes, she shivered in the cold dank of the trees. Sitting up, she was greeted with a pair of knees. This was too much. Daniel burst into tears, and felt herself be pushed back roughly onto the ground. He was straddling her, pinning her hips to the ground. His delicate hands were holding her wrists, rendering her very vulnerable. She stopped crying. She was too upset and scared to cry. He studied her for a while, taking in her helpless form. Releasing one of her wrists, he ran his thumb over her lower lip, smiling when she turned her head away. He leaned in closer, so his upper body was lying against hers. Daniel kept her eyes turned away from his. His free hand lifted her chin and she held eye contact with him for a second. He kissed her lightly, and when he drew back she could see the feral gleam in his eyes. Taking leave of her senses, Daniel screamed for help and struggled against him. He laughed. A deep, mocking sound that made her feel like shit.

"No one can hear you, little one, you're all mine." Daniel convulsed beneath him, taking by him by surprise. She scrambled to her feet and tried to run toward the edge of the forest. She had no idea where she was going, but anywhere he wasn't was good enough for her. He speared her, knocking the breath out of her lungs and throwing her to the ground. This was it. The last thing she was going to see was the underside of leaves. She tensed up, waiting for him to do it. She could already feel his breath against her throat, and the vice-like grip of his hands on her arms made her lose feeling in her hands. He stopped holding her. Removing his hands from her arms, he let her calm down a bit. Gasping for breath, Daniel waited. What was he going to do now? She watched his face as his hands traveled obscenely over her body. She wanted to scream. She wanted him far far away, and she wanted to be deaf, so she couldn't hear the ragged moaning as he ravaged her already broken body.

Lying limply on the ground, Daniel Snape wished she were dead. The realization of what had occurred was tearing through her brain. She couldn't bear to move. Not wanting to admit that the body he had destroyed was her own. He fixed his attire, ripped from chasing her through the toughest plants known to man. Her head pounded, and her bruised limbs would not obey her commands to hit whatever part of him they could. A hot pain was creeping up from her belly. He sat on her hips again, relishing the way she tried to mask her agony. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and leaned in, putting more pressure on her stomach. She didn't even try to stop him. Feeling the cold wetness on her skin made her want to vomit, he licked her neck slowly and applied gentle suction as he pierced the surface. This was a new pain. A double prick made her jerk out of  disowning  herself, and as he sunk deeper and deeper the pain was paralyzing. She could feel him swallowing mouthful after mouthful of blood. As it progressed, she lost feeling in her extremities. As she neared emptiness, he stopped. Pulling out was as bad as going in. Whimpering, Daniel tried her best to stop him, but he felt so immensely strong. He cradled her against his chest as he made a deep cut near the base of his neck. Lifting her head up, he looked into her eyes. "It'll be alright." His lips didn't move, but she was sure she heard it. How could he be so kind after what he had done to her? But she couldn't help trusting him. He felt nice. Warm, warmer than her, anyway. When she tasted the first drop of his blood, she knew that it was all right.  It filled her with strength, and the heady feeling made her almost giddy. It warmed her, and even though it was mingled with her own, tasted ancient, like some magic elixir, and she wished it wouldn't end. But he pulled her head away from his neck, and she saw the wound seal and vanish before her very eyes. He smiled down at her. The feel of his cold skin against her made her nauseous, but she clung onto him anyway. She felt the blood in her humming. A shock of pain flashed in her chest. Too exhausted to react, she closed her eyes and waited for Death. A momentary rest before she could exact vengeance on him. As the blackness overtook her senses, he held her close to him, and she felt herself go limp long before she lost hold of what remained of her life….

Daniel Snape leapt out of the dream with a shout. Staring blankly at the inside of the curtains on the bed, she didn't want to pull them back for fear of him being there. Waiting for her. Sitting up in bed, she drew unnesscessary shuddering breaths, wishing she had the dream that frequented her sleep instead. The dream where she rose again, met his excited eyes, and lopped his head off. Not this. Not when tomorrow was the Second task. The vividness of the dream had always shocked her. She could still feel him, his fingers ghosting over her skin. Shaking herself, Daniel wrapped the covers around her tighter, although they offered no real comfort. Keeping her eyes open, because his face was plastered on the back of her eyelids, Daniel flung a curtain back. Nothing. Stepping out of bed, she looked around nervously, not knowing why, because she knew he was dead. Walking slowly into the Common Room, she settled herself in a chair by the fire. The warmth made her feel better.

She couldn't help remembering the dream. Putting a hand carefully to her neck, there were two faint bumps, too small to be noticed.

After she had become a vampire, Daniel had hated herself for not stopping it. Everything was different, her senses perceiving very ordinary things to be completely alien to her. The night no longer seemed dark. On the contrary, it glittered. Like the moon was another sun. Hunger had taken her, and she had forbidden herself to kill anyone. The memory of how it had felt to her still fresh in her mind stopped her from inflicting that on someone else. Until she met a young man called Philippe. He wasn't a vampire, but he was a very wicked human. He didn't know she was a vampire, but he worshipped her. Everything she did was wonderful. Until he thought that Daniel loved him, and tried to force consummation of their friendship. He didn't find it so wonderful when she plunged her canines into his throat so far she thought his spine would snap. Leaving his body for the crows, she left the town she had called home, a small Roman military settlement established after the Gallic Wars. Her centuries of traveling allowed her to hone her magical and vampiric skills until she was unstoppable. Her only relied on herself, and anyone who thought she could be trusted ended up dead. Or worse. The thrill of the hunt, and the ecstasy of the kill fuelled her until she journeyed to England, and heard word about a magic school being founded in the North. Surveying the four founders working in harmony inspired her for the first time in her life. Then Salazar Slytherin left, and the running of the school was left to Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Wanting a change, a new beginning, and a bit of meaning to her eternal existence, she took up position of Potions and Charms teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She was not a qualified teacher, but her experience with various concoctions and her extensive knowledge of hexes and charms got her the job. As the founders died off one by one, she became headmistress. Then, at the turn of the 19th Century, she left the school, and went back to sacking towns all over Europe. She earned an impressive reputation, and the name Snape grew in authority. After a hundred or so years of ruining lives and communities, Daniel returned to Hogwarts, where she took up the job of Defense Against the Darks Arts teacher. Getting herself a house in the south of England, she lived a relatively peaceful un-life.

"Daniel?" said a voice. Jerking out of her memories, Daniel turned quickly. Draco was standing at the foot of the stairs, wearing his ridiculous green pajamas. "Can't sleep?" he asked kindly, walking over and sitting genially beside her. She shook her head, still uneasy from the dream. "Did you have a nightmare?" he asked, yet looking surprised when she nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked feebly, a look of concern softening his pointy features. Daniel screwed her eyes shut tight. Perhaps Draco thought she was going to cry, because he shifted in his seat and wrapped his arms around her. Letting him hug her, she leaned gently on his chest, feeling his heart beating under her cheek. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly, his arms still tightly around her. Daniel nodded. Her head rested in the hollow of his neck, and Draco could feel her eyelashes tickling him. He wondered what she could have dreamed of to make her so placid, she felt weak. He leaned back slightly, resting on the arm of the chair. Daniel shifted so she was half-lying on him. Her head rested squarely over his heart. One of her arms was lying around his chest, her hand lying limply at his side. Draco realized she was on the verge of dropping off. Waking her slowly, he walked with her to the foot of the stairs. "You better get some sleep before tomorrow." He said lightly, his corners of his mouth curling faintly.

"I will." She said hoarsely, trying to return the half-smile.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Draco looked genuinely concerned.

"I'll be fine." She replied.

Slightly longer than the last few, and I hoped you liked it.

Xanadan