A/N: Another wondrous chapter. Adrienne and Lianna. Thanks to my beautiful reviewers! And sorry about the lack of gory details of the possession-attack; I thought I'd keep it a little clean- less mess to clean up with no blood on the pages.

Chapter 31

"…I don't know, it's pretty bad…"

"…But he'll be better?"

"…Unsure…"

"…Weeks, months…"

"…Wakes up…"

Lianna sat beside her father, in a strange reversal of roles. Madam Pomfrey fluttered around, largely just checking on him, and pulling the already-flat sheets straight. Lianna sighed and watched her father's pale face in repose. His silvery hair was sprinkled around the pillow his head rested on, giving him the impression of a halo. Lianna was impressed that the colour of his hair was also the colour of the ripples of his aura.

Adrienne walked in with the careful grace that she always exhibited, her dark hair bound up in a ponytail today.

"How are you, Lianna?" she asked, her voice low, as she seated herself beside her sister. Lianna noticed that her hands were slightly discoloured, and her nails were dirty.

"I'll be better when he is," she replied, motioning to her father. To have found him only to mortally wound him was not a nice predicament, and her conscience was rattling her with real and imagined precautions she might have taken, and problems that she had caused in her life.

"Lianna, do you remember when we were kids, and you broke Melissa's nose?"

"Yeah," Lianna mumbled absently, caught in her thoughts.

"Do you remember how you hounded yourself about it for weeks, asking her if there were anything you could do for her, that you were really sorry?"

Lianna paused from her self-flagellation and looked at her sister, remembering. "Yes, I do. She ended up yelling at me that it wasn't my fault, it was an accident and there was nothing I could have done otherwise. Then I felt really bad about hounding her, and apologised about that for weeks." She smiled weakly at the memory.

"Are you learning from your previous mistakes, Li?" Adrienne asked softly, her mouth curving into a gentle smile. Lianna returned her with one of her own.

"I am now that you've reminded me." She broadened her smile to show her thanks, then returned her gaze to her father. "He's really not a bad guy. You remember all the stories that Sarah told us that her father told her about Draco Malfoy? This almost seems to be a different person. And he's my father. I don't want to lose him, Ri," she returned her eyes, glistening, to her sister. Adrienne reached out her hand and touched her sister's arm.

"I know," she said softly. "I can't say that I'm overly impressed with him, but if you like him, that's all I can ask." Adrienne smiled weakly at her sister, but squeezed her arm with her hand.

"Thanks," Lianna said softly, "You can borrow him sometimes, if your father's not up to standard," her tone continued quietly, but her eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, Li. My father's not too bad, either." Adrienne grinned. Lianna opened her eyes wide, mocking her sister with fake innocence.

"Your father- who was he again? I can't seem to remember his name. Oh! Snape! I remember now… he's not so bad? How can you say that?" But she ruined her act with a trill of laughter, throwing her head back and shaking her shoulders.

"I've been making things," Adrienne confided in her sister, grin still on her face. "He seems to appreciate it." Lianna nodded.

"He would. I can see it- you haven't washed under your nails."

"You'd think that all that time I spent in the sink would have helped, but no, I've still the same amount of grot as before. Oh, look at this," she said to Lianna, showing her the grime from underneath her fingernails, "Ground up liverwort. I knew that stuff would get everywhere." Lianna giggled nervously, backing away from the extended finger. "Oh, Li, you wouldn't be afraid of a little dirt, would you?"

"Never!" Lianna proclaimed, standing to her feet boldly. "I'll take your challenge any day!" She placed her hands on her hips, shoulders square. Her hair shone with a vibrancy all of its own in its delicate ringlets.

"Really?" Adrienne raised one eyebrow.

"Oh, don't do that," Lianna grimaced, "You look like your father."

"Really?" She repeated, scowling at her sister.

"I can't believe I never saw that before!"

"Oh!" Adrienne replied, "Now I can see the expression that your father wore most days in potions… vapid mischief!"

"I am not vapid!"

"Oh, of course not," Adrienne shrugged her shoulders, "just a little empty, that's all."

"I am not an air head!"

"Never said you were, dear. A little blank, maybe…" Adrienne laughed delightedly at her sister, who promptly threw herself at her sister, tickling her.

"Oi! Don't do that, it tickles! I said, don't! Hey!" Adrienne fended off a barrage of attacks from her sister, before they fell into a tangle on the floor.

"Hey," said a masculine voice, slightly fuzzy. "Can't a man sleep in here?" Instantly both girls were standing at their feet, shamefaced.

"Sorry, daddy," Lianna said contritely.

Draco looked up at the girl, and laughed gently, before wincing and stopping, placing a hand on his stomach. "I think you ate a bit too much before. I've got stomach aches again." He smiled at his joke, although Adrienne discoloured a little, and Lianna merely winced. "I was joking! It's ok, Lianna. It's not your fault."

"Oh, daddy, I'm so sorry, I know it's not my fault, but I still feel so bad, I wish there was something I could do to help, please let me do something to help, I feel so bad, I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I'm so sorry, daddy, you don't mind if I call you that do you? Please don't make me go away, I just want to make it up to you…" Draco stopped her relentless whining with a raised hand.

"How do you do that?" Adrienne demanded, "It usually takes me threatening her with disembowelment before she'll shut up for me." She grinned at Lianna's scowl. "Don't throw your head around like that, Li. You'll give yourself whiplash. And your hair will go straight." Adrienne laughed at the horrified hand that Lianna threw up to her hair.

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled in, and she quickly shooed the girls out of the room. "You'll only make him worse. He needs rest, not an assault on his ears. Out. Out!" And like dust, they were swept from the room. Lianna waved an amused goodbye to her father as they were rushed out and before Poppy closed the door firmly behind herself.

"Aw, she spoils all my fun," Lianna said lightly.

"Yes, but Draco will recover quicker if we're not in there, which will be more fun, won't it?" Adrienne linked her arm through her sister's, subtly guiding her.

"You remember a couple of weeks ago, when you decided that it would be a good idea to tell Snape that he's my father, and your soul was hijacked?" Lianna nodded, looking up at her sister curiously. "Well, you remember how Aunt Minerva wanted to talk to us about our places for University?" Lianna nodded again, slightly worried this time, "Well, I think it would be a good idea to go and talk to her about it, don't you? Since University starts in mid-October?" Lianna nodded wearily.

"But I don' wanna!" she whined, then laughed and sighed to her sister. "I guess that means that we'll be going somewhere different, won't we? We'll never live together in the same way again, will we? It'll be really odd, not having you there whenever I need you," she frowned.

"I'll always be there when you need me, Li! And I darn well hope that we'll share a house- I wouldn't want to have spent the last eighteen years housetraining you for someone else to reap the benefits!" Adrienne laughed.

"Didn't mama housetrain both of us?"

"Yes, dear, but you needed refinement."

"Oh, did I now?" Lianna pulled her arm from her sister's.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have said anything, but yes. It's true." The girls dissolved into giggles, and finally reached Minerva's door.

"Yes girls?" She said cautiously when she saw the girl's laughing faces at her door.

"Well,"

"We," They said at the same time, before Lianna waved for Adrienne to speak.

"We want to have that talk about options that you wanted to have near the beginning of all this. About University."

"Oh, good," Minerva sighed, letting the girls in. "I though you were going to say that something else horrid had happened. Well, come in then," she sat them down and the talk began.