Chapter 3

The bell rang, and the girls stampeded to the door, hoping to socialize a bit before first period began. Isabelle slowly picked up her knapsack, and walked into the hallway. Luckily, she managed to make it to the girls' restroom before the tears that she'd been holding back for all of homeroom spilled over.

She locked herself into the far stall and slid to the ground, not budging until she heard the tardy bell for first period. Cautiously, she opened the stall door and peeked around the restroom to make sure she was alone. Grimacing at her image in the mirror, she splashed her face with cold water to make her eyes look not so puffy.

There's no way I can make it through the day in this mental state, she thought ruefully.

So, as she left the safety of the girls' restroom, she decided to brave Severus' ire and ask to be taken home. The office door creaked loudly, causing the secretary to look up as Isabelle nervously walked up to her desk.

"Um, hi. I'm a new student here. But I'm not feeling very well, so I'd like to go home, please," she said in a rush, holding her breath for the secretary's response. To her delight, the secretary simply started leafing through her Rolodex of student emergency contact names and addresses.

"What's your name?" she asked briskly.

"Tori Bievenour. Well, it's probably under Victoria Bievenour," Isabelle responded, thankful that she remembered her assumed name.

The secretary nodded, and wrote out a brief note. She attached it to the school correspondence owl, and Isabelle watched it fly out of the window and out of sight. A few minutes later, a very puzzled Severus rushed into the office. Without a word to Isabelle, he signed the early release form and walked her home.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" he asked awkwardly, not knowing if this was the right thing to say.

"No," she fumed, storming down the hallway and into her room.

Severus winced as she slammed her door loudly, wondering if he should check in on her or just let her be. He stood in the hallway for a minute debating, but finally decided to leave her alone.

-----

Isabelle drummed her fingers on the desk as she leafed through her Astronomy textbook. The positions of the stars in Virginia were quite different from Scotland, and she wanted to familiarize herself with the changes before going to class. She took out a quill and highlighted various favorite constellations and stars for future reference when she went stargazing later.

Astronomy was her first period class, but she hadn't made it past homeroom in the nearly two weeks that she'd been at Spotswood. Every day, Nikki said something that upset her to the point of hysterics, so she went home and cried her eyes out for hours before falling into a fitful sleep. It was her horrible routine, and she hated it.

She only saw one solution to the problem, and that was to let Nikki stop getting to her. Isabelle needed to learn how to shrug off her constant harping and criticism of both herself and her family. After all, no matter how popular you are, there's going to be someone who doesn't like you. At least, that's what Isabelle told herself as Nikki walked into the room, steeling herself for today's new round of insults.

Besides, Isabelle figured that Nikki couldn't possibly come up with anything more insulting that what she'd already said. So far, both she and Lily were worthless, money-grubbing mudbloods. James was a total sucker, and wasted his time working for the Ministry rather than being a businessman like his father. Sirius was a fool for marrying a known drug addict, and Regina completely disgraced the family. And Nikki actually delighted in the knowledge that the Ministry fired Remus even though there was no evidence tying him to the Halloween attacks.

"Hey, Nik," Lucy greeted her, offering her a licorice whip.

"Hey," she replied sullenly, slouching in her seat dramatically and angrily eating the licorice.

"What's with you?" Becky asked.

"I had a fight with Phillip. Actually, he broke up with me."

"What?" the girls in the room chorused in shock.

"Yeah. He was over my house for dinner, and Daddy started talking about the Potter murder case. And, how everything thinks that it's odd that no one ever found the bodies of Grace Black or the Evans tart. Well, I said that I think it's a little suspect that the Evans tramp was living with Sirius Black instead of her mudblood trash sister in the first place."

"So? Most people wonder about that," Lucy said dismissively.

"Exactly!" Nikki exclaimed. "And, what motive Black couldn't had to kill them in the first place. All I said is that he probably got the Evans tramp pregnant and killed her to hide the evidence."

Isabelle blinked. Did Nikki just say what she thought she said? Before she could process that accusation, Nikki continued.

"Personally, I don't think it's all that farfetched. I talked to a couple of the Evans tart's classmates, and they said she was easy. So, why wouldn't she sleep with him?"

"You're just angry because your boyfriend cares more about a dead girl than you," Isabelle spat, breaking her silence. "Oh, excuse me. Ex-boyfriend."

"Who are you?" Nikki fumed, noticing the girl for the first time and sizing her up.

"Someone who's sick and tired of hearing you talk about things you know nothing about. Is your life so pathetic that you have nothing better to do than insult other people? It's classless and tacky. Maybe if you paid half the attention to Phillip that you spend being a nosy gossip, he wouldn't have dumped you." With that, Isabelle snatched up her knapsack and stormed into the hallway, head held high.

She walked into the office, gave the secretary her usual excuse, and waited on the outside steps for Severus to pick her up. When he Apperated a few minutes later, he wore his usual look of confusion and frustration.

Isabelle didn't really care what he thought; she just wanted to lock herself in the safety of her bedroom, where no one hurt her. Which is exactly what she did. Right before she fell asleep, she heard a light knock on the door.

"Come in," she called out, although she didn't really care what Severus wanted.

He had no clue how to approach her, to find out what was wrong with her. But, she reminded him an awful lot of Regina, especially when she was upset. So, Severus decided to draw on that limited experience now, and crossed his fingers that he could get through to her. Otherwise, it would be an extremely long two years.

"Isabelle, something's bothering you other than the obvious. I haven't known you very long, and even I can tell that." He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. "Look, I understand if you don't want to talk to me about it. But, you need to talk to someone. Maybe a therapist or something."

She rolled her eyes because he suddenly sounded exactly like Sirius. That was Sirius' line whenever she wouldn't talk about what was bothering her, and it worked every time. And, it worked for Severus, too, mostly because in that moment, Isabelle realized that he actually cared about her.

"It's this girl named Nikki Sullivan."

"What about her?" he asked hesitantly, surprised that she decided to confide in him.

"It's a long story, so maybe we should go to the living room. And, get some lunch, too. I'm starving." She smiled through her tears.

After settling on their makeshift couch with an enormous turkey and cheese sandwich, Isabelle began telling Severus everything. To her surprise, his face grew red with anger when he heard what Nikki had said. When she finished, he looked at his hands for a minute, and then up again.

"This girl really has it out for you, doesn't she?" he asked quietly. Isabelle nodded, biting her lip. "Well, I only see one solution for this."

"What's that?" she inquired in a barely audible voice.

"I think putting you in school right away was a mistake on my and Professor Dumbledore's part. And, hearing about your family in a bad light is making you unable to learn a thing. So, if you don't want to go back to Spotswood, you don't have to."

"Really? You really mean it?" She wanted to hug Severus, she was so happy.

"I really mean it. Besides, I haven't had a decent holiday since I started working for Voldie. Why don't we go somewhere for a while until things settle down?"

Isabelle's eyes lit up. "Oooh, where?"

"Anywhere you want." He genuinely meant it. This was the first sparkle of interest in anything that he'd seen in her. And although he didn't really want to raise her, he took his duties very seriously.

"Dallas. I want to go to Dallas, Texas," she said excitedly. "That's where my favorite television show is set."

"Dallas, Texas it is. We'll just break our lease, pack up our stuff, jump in the car, and buy a map on our way out of town. Sound good to you?"

"Sounds fabulous. But, what are you going to tell the school when you pull me out of classes?" Isabelle asked, worried.

"That you've just been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, maybe a rare cancer or something, and you need to go somewhere for treatment. Where, I don't know, but I'll make something up on the spot. And, that'll explain why you needed to go home every day – you're too weak to sit in class for hours." He winked.

"You're an absolute genius. Thank you." She shocked him by jumping up and giving him a huge hug. He would never rise to the ranks of Sirius Black, but Severus Snape just became her new hero.

-----

Isabelle casually slung her bag over her shoulder and slammed the apartment door behind her while Severus turned in the keys at the office. True to his word, he immediately removed her from Spotswood Academy two days ago.

They would've started their road trip yesterday, except that Isabelle talked Severus into trading in their Ford Thunderbird for a much sportier Chevrolet Corvette and they needed to stay in town to finish up the paperwork. She grinned at the sight of their new ride – it truly was a beautiful car.

And, as she reminded Severus on several occasions during the past twenty-four hours, she knew her cars. The gleaming, jet-black Corvette was Isabelle's ticket to freedom from Nikki and the rest of the wizarding world. She truly needed to put the past behind her and start a new life, and this road trip was the first step.

She popped open the trunk and tossed her bag inside as Severus emerged from the office with a surly look on his face. Without a word, he tossed Isabelle the car keys and stormed to the car's passenger side door. She shrugged and hopped in the driver's side.

His moods didn't bother her; after all, she was used to Sirius, who probably spent half of his life brooding. Not that she would ever tell Severus that he had anything in common with Sirius, although they reminded her of each other a lot. She fought a small smile as she fired up the 'Vette and headed towards Interstate 64.

"What's so funny?" he grumped.

"You," she replied, fumbling for a favorite cassette tape and popping it into the car stereo.

"What's this?"

"Driving music," she explained as 'Back in Black' blared from the speakers. She thought it was quite appropriate, considering that they were in a black car. After a couple of minutes, Severus began drumming his fingers to the beat.

"This isn't half bad," he hollered over the music.

"Told you I have good taste," she fired back, punching the accelerator to get up to Interstate speed. She laughed as Severus clutched the dash, white-knuckled, as she shifted into fourth gear.

"Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Of course I do! You just have to trust me."

"This is going to be a long trip," he muttered underneath his breath.

-----

Severus slowly opened an eye and surveyed his surroundings, realizing that the car wasn't moving. And, Isabelle wasn't in the driver's side or in his immediate eyeshot. He sighed heavily and covered his face with the hood of his cloak, hoping that she wasn't far away.

Although he thought Isabelle was absolutely nuts with her grueling driving pace, he wasn't in the mood for a prolonged stop. She was known to spend an unreal amount of time sightseeing in travel plazas and truck stops; they endlessly fascinated her. And, this morning was no exception. She bounded into the car with a large paper sack filled to the brim with leaflets and food.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully, peering inside the bag and pulling out a bottle.

"Morning," he grumbled, wishing that she hadn't wanted to drive through the night.

Even if they didn't reach Dallas by nightfall, he planned to put his foot down and demand to spend the night in a hotel. His back couldn't take another night in a cramped Corvette seat, and neither could his nerves.

"Breakfast?" she asked, dumping out the contents of the bag into her lap.

"Sure. What are today's fascinating options?" he replied sarcastically, eyeing the snack cakes suspiciously.

She usually picked the oddest-looking Muggle food, and tried to talk Severus into trying it first, just to see the disdainful look on his face when he took a bite. Isabelle flashed him a winning smile, and held up two small cakes wrapped in cellophane.

"The guy at the counter said these were good," she said meekly, holding them out for inspection.

Severus rubbed his eyes, and scanned the labels. "So, my choices are a 'Moon Pie' and a 'Zinger'. Isabelle, I'm picking the food at the next stop, ok?"

"Suit yourself," she shrugged, popping off the top of a Yoo-Hoo and downing its contents before firing up the car.

"Where are we, anyway?" he asked, deciding to try the 'Zinger'. He unwrapped it, took a tentative bite, and was surprised that he actually liked the little chocolate cake. Relieved, he wolfed it down.

"Arkansas," Isabelle answered, pronouncing it "Our Kansas." "'Bout an hour outside Little Rock."

She leaned over and began fiddling with the radio. After a couple of minutes, she managed to get a station to come in clearly. Severus gave her a dirty look as she sang along with the music.

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey

"What in the world is this bloody crap?" Severus exclaimed.

"Simon and Garfunkel," she said, turning the radio down a couple of notches. "It's from the movie The Graduate." "Oh." He covered his head with his cloak again and unsuccessfully tried to tune her out.

Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes

"Don't you ever stop singing?" He was exasperated.

"Nope. Come on, join in," she pleaded, starting to sing again. "Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson. Jesus loves you more than you will know."

"Wo, wo, wo," Severus said flatly. His participation, facetious as it was, encouraged Isabelle to belt out the words even louder.

"God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey, hey, hey…"

"Hey, hey, hey," they sang together.

Their eyes met, and they burst into laughter. Although he found her annoying sometimes, he was becoming quite fond of the Evans girl. Bordering on enjoying her company, even. Not that he would tell her that, of course.

-----

"Isabelle," Severus called out impatiently, tapping his foot. "Isabelle! What is taking so bloody long?"

"Hmm?" She answered from behind the dressing room door.

For the past half hour, she'd been trying on outfit after outfit, having an absolute ball. Unfortunately, Severus wasn't half as amused as she was. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally emerged from the depths of the dressing rooms, carrying a stack of clothes and accessories.

"I've decided on these," she said with conviction.

"All of these?" He couldn't believe that one girl needed so many clothes. "Don't you have an entire wardrobe in the car?"

"They're British clothes. We're in America, so I need American clothes," Isabelle replied, as if this should be obvious.

"What's the difference?" His head spun as the cashier rang up the total. Dazed, he forked over a wad of bills, wondering how he'd become such a pushover.

"Men are so clueless," she pronounced, gleefully swinging her bag as they left the store. "Ok, where to next?"

"How about lunch? Those Twinkie things you bought for breakfast weren't exactly filling."

"I liked the Twinkies! Can't we skip lunch and go straight to the Dallas set tour? There's plenty of food in the car, I swear. Please?" she pleaded.

"What's the rush?" Severus asked, trying to keep a straight face as Isabelle gave him an incredibly sour look.

Ever since they had crossed the Texas border, she'd been humming the theme to the television show Dallas constantly. Somewhere around Texarkana, she began chattering about how she and Lily had passed the last summer watching the show. And how she made a solemn vow to visit Southfork Ranch one day.

Severus didn't have an opinion about Lily Evans Potter one way or the other, so he didn't mind her chitchat. Although her constant prattle was a little annoying and wore his nerves incredibly thin, he knew what it was like to lose a loved one. Frankly, he was impressed that she talked about her family at all.

He was appreciative that she limited her musings to her sister, and didn't comment on James Potter or that insufferable git Sirius Black. Or their dangerous werewolf mate, who Severus couldn't believe Lily let near her baby sister. Most of all, Isabelle never mentioned Regina, for which he was most thankful.

"Come on! It's almost noon already," Isabelle exclaimed, jarring him out of his thoughts. He found himself being dragged towards the car.

"The city's not going anywhere," he pointed out somewhat grumpily.

"And, neither are we at this rate. Come on." She practically pushed him into the car.

Severus didn't make a comment as she fired up the engine and sped down the road. He clutched the dash several times when she began cutting off people and screaming obscenities at other drivers.

"Isabelle? Can't you slow down a little?" he asked, trying to remain calm. "No," she replied, cutting the wheel sharply to exit the Interstate.

He was so relieved to make it to the tourist trap in one piece that he was actually happy to take the tour of the silly Muggle show. Isabelle bounced from area to area, full of trivia that had he actually ever seen Dallas, he might have found interesting.

However, there was nothing about Texas that he found appealing in the slightest. Even the wizarding areas were bizarre. The food was disgustingly spicy, the weather was far too hot, and the people were nothing short of insane. He had no clue what was so enamoring to Isabelle.

"Isn't Dallas glorious?" she asked from behind her new ice-blue sunglasses with sparkly rhinestones.

"Charming."

Isabelle didn't catch his sarcasm.

-----

"Well, um, when do you think we'll get to L.A.?" Severus asked, trying to make conversation.

"In a couple of days, I guess," Isabelle spat, pouting. She nailed the accelerator, making the Corvette lurch forward, as a social protest.

"Look, we couldn't have stayed in Dallas forever. We hit every mall, museum, tourist trap, and fireworks stand in the whole city. Any longer, and we'd be flat broke."

"So bloody what. I'm rich, so what does it matter?"

"You were rich. Hate to break it to you, Your Highness, but things have changed. And this money spending habit of yours is one of them. When we get back to Williamsburg--"

"What!" she screeched, swerving and nearly hitting an I-20 Interstate road sign. "We are not going back to that horrible place. Anywhere but there."

"Yes, we are. I am your guardian now, and it is not up for discussion. As I was saying, when we get back to Williamsburg, you're going to have to get a job to support your lifestyle," Severus said firmly.

"For your information, I've always worked. I'm not afraid of hard work. So you can take your attitude and shove it up your arse!" Her voice filled the small cab of the car.

"My attitude? Excuse me, but aren't you being a little ungrateful here? I saved your life, Miss Evans, in case you haven't forgotten. Not to mention taking you out of Spotswood. You could be listening to Nikki Sullivan's rantings right now."

Isabelle pulled off the Interstate suddenly and swung the Corvette to a screeching halt outside of a small diner. She pushed open the door and slammed it shut, stomping through the cloud of dirt her driving had created.

"Where in the hell are you going?" Severus shouted, completely pissed off.

"Away from you! I need a break," she screamed back.

The door squeaked on it hinges as Isabelle pushed her way into the hazy diner. When her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, her eyes flew wide open. She'd never seen a place like this before. At the far end of the room was a massive bar that spanned from one end of the room to the other. Behind the bar was every type of drink humanly imaginable, stacked clear to the ceiling on tall shelves.

About a dozen patrons were scattered through the diner. Some were at the bar, nursing drinks. Others were seated at large, round wooden tables, eating a late lunch. What struck her the most were the large neon signs everywhere. She made out several brands of beer, a bear, a small herd of deer, and a giant illuminated sign in the shape of Texas with a star in the middle of it.

"What are you doing?" Severus growled from the doorway.

"Getting a drink." She stormed to the bar and flung herself into a tall stool. The bartender eyed her up and down appreciatively.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked, leaning forward, far too close in Severus' opinion. He sat down beside her and gave the young man his grumpiest scowl. Fortunately for the bartender's health, he backed up a couple of steps.

"Nothing," Severus answered. "We were just leaving."

"No, we weren't," she said, eyes flashing with anger.

"Yes, we were." His tone of voice left no room for discussion. Isabelle huffed out of the diner, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the car.

"Two tires have gone flat," she said guiltily, knowing that it was her rough driving that caused the tires to wear out so quickly.

"Don't we have a spare?"

"One spare, not two." She rolled up her sleeves. "Guess we'll just have to fix them magically."

"Oh, no, you don't. Muggles could be watching."

"What? You're kidding me. I'm not going be stuck in the back of beyond, Texas, just because some Muggle might be lurking about."

A loud argument broke out. Neither of them noticed an auburn-haired woman stroll up to them until she was right in front of the car. Severus' voice trailed off, clearly impressed with her tight jeans and cowboy boots. Not to mention the rest of her. Isabelle rolled her eyes as he openly stared.

"Can we do something for you?" Isabelle asked the pretty stranger.

"I was getting ready to ask y'all the same thing," the woman replied. At least, that's what Severus thought that she said. Her accent could hardly be considered as part of the English language. "Y'all look like you've having some car trouble."

"To say the least," Isabelle mumbled, frustrated at Severus because he wasn't saying anything. She wished that he'd stop ogling the woman for long enough to actually speak to her. The woman sighed.

"This may be a little weird, but just go with it, ok?" She reached into her back pocket and removed a wand. "Repairo."

The tires instantly reinflated, looking brand-new. Isabelle gave Severus a Look. He simply shrugged.

"Thank you," he managed to squeak out.

"You're welcome. Now, you're a cutie," she winked at him, "and I'd rather not wipe your memory. But, you gotta do what you gotta do, huh? Oblivia--"

"Expelliarmus!" Severus and Isabelle shouted together, wands drawn. All of a sudden, a jet of golden light briefly connected their wands together, before disappearing and throwing both of them to the ground.